The Stormbreaker Chronicles, Book I
by DoctorPortal
Summary: When a genetically-engineered Jedi Knight is traumatized by having to strike down his sith-turned brother, he is sent on a journey where he will accomplish things like building a great starship single-handedly, thwart a sinister Imperial Remnant plot, and create lifelong friendships in this OC Star Wars fanfic.
1. Prologue: Project Stormbreaker

**PROLOGUE:**

Dr. Lin-Aiyo stared at the developing embryo floating in the blue amniotic fluid that circulated in its tank. The rain battered at the building, creating a consistent trickling sound as the precipitation slid from the roof above.

She was the lead scientist of the secret experimentation initiative only known as _Project: Stormbreaker_. Their task was a daunting one: to create the ultimate Jedi. A Jedi that could take on entire armies singlehandedly, whose honor would trump that of nobles, and whose bravery would challenge the greatest of soldiers. The team was made up of the six greatest minds Kamino had to offer.

Currently, the small team was working on two specimens, SB001 and SB002. Two genetically-engineered humans, created entirely from scratch to represent two of the most common perceptions of the "ultimate Jedi". The first, SB001, was a male, and would have brown hair, pale skin, and piercing bright blue eyes. He was to be named Nova. An unparalleled engineer and designer, with more skill, cunning and cleverness than that of any general. His force power would be stronger than any naturally-born being could ever possess. He was designed to take on impossible tasks and solve them alone, or occasionally with a partner. More specifically, with his brother.

His brother, SB002, was to be called Daniel, and would have sandy-brown hair, tan skin, and sharp, lime-green eyes. He was designed to be a leader. To be an example. To be someone to inspire other soldiers and lead them into glorious battle, always emerging victorious. And as a team, Nova and Daniel were designed to be unstoppable.

The entire project was the brainchild of Lin-Aiyo's late grandfather, Yiskar Xaris. When he passed away, she took over the project, and conferred his last name to the two brothers that he had loved as though they were his own children.

Nearly 12 years later, a slightly older Lin-Aiyo watched through a viewport as tween-aged Nova and Daniel sparred with training lightsabers in small, white arena. Nova wore a small, red coat which reached to his knees, and a pair of skinny brown cargo pants. His hair was wild, but not unkempt, as though the boy intentionally kept it in disarray. It fell into his face as he dueled. Daniel wore similar attire, albeit yellow and black. His hair was shorter and well-groomed, and stayed in place as the two brothers sparred. The brothers dueled in a flurry of slashes, parries, and blocks. After nearly 15 minutes of non-stop dueling, Nova knocked Daniel onto his back, and pointed his blade at Daniel's chest. Then, with a huge, beaming smile, Nova lowered his blade and started laughing. Daniel joined in. Nova helped his brother to his feet, put an arm over his shoulder, and the brothers walked out of the arena, still laughing.

An elder Kaminoan approached Lin inside the observation room.

"Are they ready?" he asked, in a slow, hoarse voice.

"I do not know. They still have much maturing to do..." Lin sighed, and turned to face the elder. "I still feel that this is not what should become of them. They are far too young to experience the horrors of war." Lin slowly turned back towards the viewport. The elder sighed heavily.

"I feel that you are right," he said. Lin whipped back around to face him, surprised at his agreement, but she knew he wasn't finished.

"But...?" she inquired.

"But, I am afraid we have no choice. The Republic is in desperate need of them. Our clone-manufacturing division simply cannot keep up. We need another solution. We need them."

Lin turned back to the viewport and sighed. "Very well, then. I shall brief them tomorrow."


	2. Chapter I: The Master Holocrons

**CHAPTER 1: The Master Holocrons**

_19 ABY, nearly 35 years later..._

Nova Xaris sat alone in a cold, dark temple. The only light in the room came from a small torch which flickered in a far corner. Nova sat in his large red flight jacket, huddled with his knees to his chest, staring at a selection of six odd-looking cubes, which glowed with faint, blue auras. Holocrons. Nova stared at them, shivering in the cold of the temple.

Nova composed himself, and relaxed into a meditation position, his legs crossed, his arms relaxed, his hands rested on his knees. He took a deep breath.

Before him, all six of the holocrons rose slowly into the air, and each one was disassembled and reassembled in various different shapes. A single, blinding beam of light shot from the far left Holocron and linked up to the other five. Suddenly, with a bright flash of light, Nova stood in a vast, empty expanse, milky-turquoise in color. Six ancient Jedi masters gazed at him inquisitively. The one in the center persistently stared Nova in the eyes. He was tall, with a large, silvery beard, and there was an ancient, strongly-disciplined power in his eyes. He spoke, his voice distorted, as if underwater.

_My name is Master Khroisa, and I am the elder of the Master Holocrons. For millennia, my fellow masters and I have given great wisdom only to the most worthy of Jedi. We give advice only to those who are willing to listen. Are you willing to listen, young one?_

Before Nova had a chance to respond, the woman to the master's left spoke. She was a tall, pale-orange Twi'lek, and wore a long, elaborate cloak. Her voice was similarly distorted.

_I sense great turmoil in his soul. Great potential to turn to the Dark Side... Are we sure it is best to teach this one?_

To her right, a short, green figure of Yoda's species responded, his voice clearer than the rest.

_Great turmoil, there is, yes, but impressive control, there is, as well. Wish to learn, he does. Sense it, I do. Teach him, we must. _

The master in the center nods, and looks back at Nova.

_Very well, then. What is your name, young one?_

Nova speaks, and his voice has the same distortion as most of the others.

_My name is Nova Xaris. I found you all in the ruins of the Tythonian Temple of the Ancients. I seek to be trained, to be taught the true ways of the Force. I only ask because times are desperate. You see, a great war ravages the galaxy, and-_

The master in the center waves his hand, and Nova is silenced mid-sentence.

_Yes, we are well aware of this great war. We have watched over the galaxy for millennia, and we have yet to witness any true, lasting peace. It is disappointing…_

The Twi'lek cuts him off, and addresses Nova.

_So, young one. You wish to learn? Do you truly wish to learn the true ways of the Jedi?_

A gleam shone in Nova's eyes, and when he spoke, his voice is crystal-clear.

"Yes."

The masters looked at each other briefly, then turned back towards Nova. Their eyes glowed bright blue, and they spoke in unison, their voices as clear as day.

_THEN WE WILL ASSIST YOU..._


	3. Chapter II: Spiritual Cleansing

CHAPTER 2: Spirit Cleansing

21 ABY, Two years later...

Nova sat on his knees before the six masters, once again in the vast, milky expanse. The masters all had their backs to him, as if they were looking off into the distance. The one in the center turned to face him. Upon seeing Nova, a warm smile spread across his face. Behind him, the other masters faded and vanished.

"Young master Nova… It is pleasurable to see you again. What brings you back, after so many years?"

Nova looked up at the master, and his eyes were full of anguish, pain, and fear. The smile on the master's face faded rapidly.

"What has happened? Something terrible has happened to you, Nova. Tell me. What is this malevolent weight that burdens your soul?"

When Nova spoke, it was obvious that he was holding back tears.

"Master Khorisa, I have betrayed you… I have betrayed your teachings, your wisdom, your trust…"

Khorisa silenced him.

No, Nova. You have not. You remember, I can see everything that happens in the universe beyond this holocron. I know what you have done, and I am telling you, you have done the right thing.

Nova looked back up at him, his piercing blue eyes bloodshot. A look of surprise and confusion shone in his eyes.

"I… I have? But, Master, I…" 

Khorisa silences him again.

"I saw what had become of your brother. There is no question; he had become a sith, let loose with the Dark Side. Whether or not striking him down was the right thing to do is a decision you will have to make for yourself. But, you must not let any of this consume you. You are incredibly powerful. You have powers immense and untold, and therefore you must put your powers to good use."

"But how, master?"

"Here…. Allow me…"

Master Khorisa placed one hand on Nova's shoulder, and one on his forehead.

"Master? What are you doing..?"

Khorisa looked into Nova's eyes, a bright twinkle in his own, and a smile across his face.

"I am going to heal you, young Jedi. By sharing your pain, you can become freed of it. Now, focus…."

A bright blue glow enveloped Nova and Khorisa until the light was all there was.

Memories flooded Nova's mind. He stood on a vast battlefield, surrounded by masses of blaster fire. A short distance away, he saw himself, wearing full armor, fighting back to back with…

Daniel, Nova thought.

"Focus…," he heard Khorisa say.

Nova watched as the scene warped and twisted, until he saw himself on the day he and Daniel reunited after the Galactic Civil War. He saw the bright red glow of Daniel's lightsaber as it clashed with Nova's own blue one, as the two brothers fought to the death in a seemingly-infinite battle. Then, the scene changed again, and he saw the cliff.

Daniel had his back to a vast cliff, towering hundreds of feet above a massive valley. He was down on one knee, his hair in his face, panting. Sweat dripped from his face. Nova watched from afar, watching his past self stand before Daniel, lightsaber deactivated. Daniel began chuckling, and rose to his feet. His chuckling turned into a laugh, twisted with corruption and hate.

"So, brother," he said, "Has it truly come to this? How unfortunate ..." Then, without warning, he lunged towards Nova, red blade in hand.

The sound of a single lightsaber slash echoed through the valley below. Daniel looked down, and saw Nova's blue blade sticking straight through his stomach. Nova deactivated his blade, and Daniel collapsed, and tumbled off the cliff, his body limp and lifeless.

Both Nova and his past self both had tears in their eyes. But then Khorisa's voice penetrated through the vision.

"It is only a dream, young one…" he said. "Now, wake."

Nova snapped back into reality, emerging from the trance of the holocron. He felt strange. He felt…

Free, Nova thought. It worked. He freed me of the pain. I'm free!

Nova stood, and placed the holocron into the large satchel he had slung over his shoulder. Suddenly, he could hear Khorisa's voice, speaking to him telepathically from inside the holocron.

"Listen, Young one. Your spirit has been freed, which means you feel powerful enough to force push a star out of its orbit. But you must be careful with the way you use this newfound power. Use it constructively. Use it to build, not destroy. Create something to aid you on your journey."

"Like what, master?" Nova thought.

"That is something you must determine for yourself," Khorisa responded. Nova could picture the smile on his face as he said it.

Nova stopped and pondered for a moment. Then it came to him.

"How about a starship?" Nova thought.

"Perfect," Khorisa said.

"Hmm…," Nova said aloud. "I'll need a whole bunch of materials…"


	4. Chapter III: The Ultimate Starship

CHAPTER 3: The Ultimate Starship

21 ABY, Eight months later...

Nova had successfully collected all the materials he needed for his starship. State-of-the-art engines, shields, and weapons, most of which he had designed himself, plus various pieces of equipment, and, most importantly, a bunch of crystal shards which would serve to form the hull plating, as well as another very important purpose. He had collected them in huge crates in the middle of a large, empty field. He knew exactly what to do.

Standing in the middle of the row of crates, he closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

When Nova opened his eyes again, his irises glowed bright blue. He lifted himself high into the air, and looked down. On the grass beneath him sat the boxes and crates of various technologies, equipment, and building materials, waiting for his command.

With a graceful, fluid motion of his right arm, several of the crates exploded, various bits of metal flying with alarming speed through the air, collecting in the center of the field. The pieces combined, melding and fusing together to form the basic frame of a large, beautiful starship. Nova thrust his left arm forward, and another group of crates exploded, various bits of wood, metal, etc. flew towards and connected with the frame to form a floor layout, with many rooms, each dedicated to a different purpose.

Nova raised both his hands slowly, the glow in his eyes pulsing even brighter. More crates exploded and pieces of various technological equipment, and finally, the shards of crystal flew towards the ever-growing starship, assembling the final pieces.

One final crate remained. From inside it, a dull, inconspicuous metal case floated up to him. When it opened, it revealed a small, translucent crystal sphere, inside of which a mixture of volatile chemicals sloshed around.

Nova brought his hands together surrounding the sphere, and channeled every bit of force energy he could muster into the sphere. It began to flicker and pulse, glowing brighter and brighter with a blinding blue light, crackling and flashing, until the a huge shockwave of energy exploded from the sphere. When the shockwave passed, the sphere glowed with energy that was very nearly in its purest form. It was exactly what Nova had wanted. It was the thing that would power the great starship.

The Nova Sphere.

The light in Nova's eyes diminished, and he floated gently back towards the ground. He collapsed to his knees, his hair and face dripped in sweat. He looked up, and before him stood the most magnificent starship Nova had ever laid eyes on. It was huge, an immense teardrop shape, the spherical end in front and the sharp tip at the rear. A vast vertical stabilizer emerged from the elegant taper of the tail section. Near the nose on each side sat elegant, swooping wing-like extensions, which curled at the tips like a falcon ready to take flight. Certain bits of trim along the ship's hull were dark and gray, waiting to be lit when the ship's engines were ignited. A total of six engines adorned the craft, two on the back of each wing, and two more at the tail of the craft, one on each side of the vertical stabilizer. The ship's unique crystal hull twinkled and sparkled, waiting to be energized, which would render the ship as nothing more than a shimmer, a mirage, a distortion in space. Invisible, in a way.

A huge, exhausted smile spread across Nova's face as he sat on his knees, staring at the craft. He sat there for a moment, trying to catch his breath. Sweat dripped down his face. When he finally stood, the Nova Sphere floated gently above his flattened palm. Nova slowly walked towards his new starship, which sat a short distance away, ready to receive its infinite power source and begin its epic journey.


	5. Chapter IV: The Dathomirian Farmboy

**CHAPTER 4: The Dathomirian Farmboy**

A teenage Dathomirian swung himself over a wooden fence, landing neatly on the outside of the enclosure. Dust puffed from the ground where he landed, and more fell on his shoulders when the Verne rammed into the fence behind him. Laughing, he turned and patted the beast's head as it struggled to extract its nasal horns from the thick wood.

"Better luck next time, Damaya," he said, his voice gravelly but kind. The large animal bleated in frustration, getting little more than a chuckle from D'razz as he double checked the rusted padlock on the gate. Satisfied that the herd was secure for the night, he began the long walk back to the little farmhouse he called home. Even so far away, he could smell his grandmother's famed stew cooking on the stove. No one made it quite like she did, and no one made quite so much of it. He smiled softly to himself and picked up his pace to get home quicker.

As he passed more enclosures, he nodded slightly to some of his favorite Verne, a few of whom brayed their protest to the quickly falling night.

"Good night Isolder, sleep well Tenel. Don't let the-"

A sudden rush of air swept above his head, causing D'razz to duck in alarm. He saw the starship before the concussive sound caught up to him, a patchwork of mismatched parts. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a CloakShape Fighter, commonly used by pirates to smuggle goods because of its many hidden compartments, and for its easily-modified design.

The innocuous beige starfighter sent chills down D'razz's spine. Small as it was, it could easily outstrip his antiquated land speeder when it was in good condition. Despite his fear, he scrambled into the driver's seat of his speeder, and punched the throttle. He raced after the ship, attempting to get a better view. The rural area he lived in hardly ever got visitors, and even then they only traveled in land speeders like his.

It was almost out of sight when it slowed and turned, hovering in the air for a moment before speeding back towards D'razz's farm. D'razz slowed his speeder to a stop just behind the barn, and hopped out. He edged over to nearest pen and slipped inside, the dozen or so Verne moving without protest to accommodate him.

Attention around this part of Dathomir was rarely a good thing. Even though the dark days were past, remnants of them lingered, unable to accept that the outer planets could have moved on from them. The Nightsisters were still at large, though not in power, and would occasionally strike without warning, and the pirates that had ravaged the planet in older times had not seemed to get the message that it was in the hands of the New Republic now.

Then again, they might not be hostile... or so D'razz tried to convince himself. But the first starship he'd seen in years, and it happened to be the same kind that had stolen his mother? No, they were pirates. He was sure of it.

They landed just outside the boundaries of his farm. As he watched, the cargo doors opened and several muscular men of various species lumbered out. They broke open the padlocks on the Verne pens one by one and shuffled the beasts into the waiting cargo bay. Watching silently, D'razz shook with anger. He reached for the crossbow strapped to his back, which he carried to protect his flocks from the wild rancors who had discovered that a captive meal tastes just as good as a running one.

D'razz took a steadying breath and studied his enemy carefully. The men were all armed with some sort of blaster, and there seemed to be around fifteen of them. Of course a lone farm boy couldn't take out that many. But as he heard the sound of metal being twisted out of shape and felt the Verne around him move toward the tempting, unknown outside, he realized he didn't have a choice.

Springing from his hiding spot, D'razz took aim at the nearest pirate and fired his bow. The bolt went through his neck and sent the man to his knees. Before D'razz had a chance to reload, the other men had pulled out their blasters and shot without bothering to aim. The shots didn't kill D'razz like he'd half-expected them to, but they made him feel as if he were on fire. When the shots subsided, he managed to open his eyes and discovered that he was, in fact, on fire.

For the second time that day, an unnatural wind was caused by a starship flying overhead. It was hardly more than a bright red streak, but it stayed, hovering above the farm like a vulture. It was bright red, with white and silver trim all over, and it had some of the most powerful repulsorlift engines D'razz had ever seen.

D'razz knew he was hallucinating. Two ships in one day? And one a bright red starfighter? No, that had to be a death vision. Some strange grim reaper come to whisk him away. But the pirates reacted to it too. Suddenly they were rushing over the whining and gusts of air generated by the little red ship's engines.

"Light the place up, let's go!" D'razz heard a gruff man call out.

"Burn it all down! Let it burn in the name of Captain Arkh!" A figure yelled, triumphantly.

_Light... up? Burn it down?! Grandma! D'razz thought, adrenaline suddenly rushing through him. _

D'razz struggled to get off the ground, and tried to sprint for the house. However, his wounds were too painful and he fell flat on his stomach. He looked up, and only just managed to get a look at the red and orange logo on the pirates' ship before a brilliant white light obscured his field of vision, coupled with a sudden gust of blistering heat. He thought the light would never fade, but gradually total darkness took its place. The last thing he heard before giving in to the darkness completely was the sound of heavy boots thumping across the hard ground.


	6. Chapter V: The Sentient Machine

**CHAPTER 5: The Sentient Machine **

When D'razz came to, he was sure he was dead. He couldn't see a thing.

_Welp, I'm dead. Great. So much for a long and prosperous life..._

Then suddenly he heard something. He could hear the clinking and rummaging of metal parts in what sounded like a workshop, and a voice, like a person. Weakly, he spoke up.

"H-hello..? Who's there..?"

A deep, relaxed-sounding voice responded.

"Oh good. you're awake."

"Am I dead..?"

"No, but you sure as hell got close. If I hadn't gotten to you when I did, you'd be long gone."

"Then… If I'm not dead, then why can't I see anything? It's all black."

The voice chuckled slightly.

"I can't say I'm surprised, what with your eyeballs having been disintegrated and all…"

"Wait, _what?!_"

D'razz tried to sit upright, but was pushed back by the source of the voice.

"Don't worry… I took care of that. One sec…"

Like a computer's heads-up display booting up, D'razz's vision blinked into focus, somewhat turquoise-tinted.

"Wha-wh-what is this..?"

"It's a set of synthetic eye replacements, of my own invention. They function as good as, if not better than, your original eyes. Your face sustained some major damage in the explosion. Now, I've equipped with you with a special mask designed to regenerate the skin you lost-and you lost a lot of it, by the way-, but it'll take a long time. Two years, to be exact.

_Two years...?_

D'razz looked over at the source of the voice. Before him stood a tall, young-looking man with a long, bright red flight jacket, with the name 'Nova' stitched in small letters near the left collar bone. He wore skinny, light-brown cargo pants, and a large utility belt, from which hung both a small, high-tech looking blaster, and more importantly, a lightsaber.

"You're a Jedi?" D'razz asked in awe, with traces of fear intertwined with his words.

"Well, yeah. Pretty much. What gave it away?"

D'razz motioned slightly towards the belt.

"Oh, right. the saber. Here, check this one out."

He pulled the jacket back on one side to reveal a second lightsaber, which looked far more sinister than the first one. The handle was black, and a ring of chrome spikes gleamed sinisterly just below the blade's grip. Nova activated it and the room filled with red light.

D'razz recoiled, then eased his hands up in a submissive fashion. "You would understand how that would make me uneasy, yes?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." Nova said as he deactivated the red lightsaber.

D'razz let out a sigh of relief at the blade's dismissal. "Thank you. Where did you find a weapon that… unsettling?"

"It's the blade of someone I had to strike down once... But that was a long time ago..."

Nova looked away, seemingly lost in thought for a moment.

"Anyway," he said, "This is my primary one." He pulled the friendlier-looking handle off his belt and activated it. The room lit up with brilliant blue light as the saber's blade sprung out from the hilt.

Nova let D'razz admire the lightsaber for a moment before deactivating it and returning it to his belt. "So, what did you say your name was?"

His head still swimming with all that had happened, D'razz took a while to recognize that the question had been directed at him. "I'm D'razz. Er, Stegma. D'razz Stegma." He stumbled over the introduction.

"Well, D'razz Stegma, ever been off-world?"

D'razz shook his head.

"Excellent. Come on, then, I'll introduce you and then we can head out!" Nova darted out of the med bay, and after a moment D'razz followed.

"Hey, Nova?"

Nova looks back at him.

"Yeah?"

"You said 'introduce'. Who exactly are you 'introducing' me to?"

Nova stops, a tinge of red in his face.

"Oh, umm… right. That may be a little awkward…"

"Why? Who is it?"

The ship whined and groaned, almost as if in response.

Nova looks up at the ceiling and nods.

"The ship says Hi."

D'razz coughed in disbelief, then caught himself.

"I'm sorry. What? The _ship_ says hi? What are you-"

Another series of groans and whines interrupted him, seemingly angrier this time.

D'razz sank into the folds of his jacket, shuddering.

Nova looked sternly towards the ceiling. He talks to the small, camera-like object in the corner of the room.

"Hey, come on. Be nice.. He doesn't know any better," Nova said.

More whirring and a series of clicks responded to him.

_What is he doing…?_ D'razz thought. _Is he talking to the ship? And more importantly, is the ship responding?_

Finally gathering enough courage to speak, D'razz's voice was weak.

"Wha-h.. How? How is this- _any_ of this- p-possible?"

A very proud smile spread across Nova's lips.

"Well, come with me and I'll show you…"

He led the way down the hall to a lift, which they took to one of the lowermost decks. When the door opened, D'razz was greeted by one of the most beautiful rooms he had ever seen. Elegant, curvaceous architecture gleamed with a pristine white glow. A mysterious, glowing blue fluid flowed through tubes that wrapped around the walls of the circular chamber, branching off in places to flow towards various critical systems. What's more, everything was spotless, and all sorts of consoles, monitors, and screens donned the sides of the room, and they all seemed to be surrounding the large, transparent chamber in the center of the room, which contained something D'razz had never seen before.

A small sphere floated in the center of a vast, transparent chamber. It glowed with the brightness and power of a blue giant star, yet it wasn't even three inches in diameter. Just by standing in the doorway, D'razz could feel the tingling of heat against his chest. Clearly, whatever this mysterious sphere was, it was incredibly powerful, and it seemed to be powering the whole ship.

D'razz was speechless.

"Wh- Wha.."

Nova's smile widened slightly.

"Go ahead. What do you think?

D'razz finally found his voice.

"Wha-what is it?

"That... is the Nova Sphere. It's a source of infinite power, which I created using my own force abilities."

"Wait, your _what?_ You turned your force power into an energy source? Is that even possible?"

"Nearly every reputable scientist in the galaxy would say no, but as you can see, It worked for me, so…"

"So, if this ship runs off of your life essence, is that why it can...um... communicate?"

"For all intents and purposes, the _Stormbreaker_ is alive. It has a soul. It's almost completely self-aware. It is quite possible the galaxy's first sentient machine. And yes, the Nova Sphere is the reason why."

Struggling to cope with the sensory overload, D'razz tried to change the subject.

"So... Umm... This is the, uhh… the engineering section?"

"Yup."

"It's so clean."

"What can I say? I like a clean ship."

"...Right."

The awkward moment of silence was broken when the proximity alarm went off.

"What's happening?!" D'razz shouted over the sound of the blaring klaxon.

"It's the proximity alarm! We're under attack!

Nova and D'razz rushed back into the lift. Without Nova even having to do anything, the lift immediately began to rise at full speed towards the bridge.

Back on the bridge, Nova waved his hand in front of the center console, and a holographic display showed a live feed to the ship's exterior. His face went slack, and he spoke slowly...

"D'razz..? You're not going to like this..."

"Why, who could it-"

Then he saw it.

A mismatched bunch of parts, weapons, and sheet metal. And stamped across the side was the same insignia D'razz had seen Back on Dathomir...

The pirates were back.


	7. Chapter VI: The Misunderstood Princess

**Chapter VI: The Misunderstood Princess**

For as long as anyone can remember, Naboo's government has always been a democratic monarchy, in that the people elect both members of a royal council, and also a monarch, usually a queen, sometimes a king.

For many years, the people of Naboo had continued to elect members of the Mukure family, one of the oldest on Naboo and also one of the largest. Currently, the king and queen were Argos Mukure and Maylisa Mukure, respectively. The two of them had three daughters, the oldest, Auburn, then Sala, and then the youngest, Nara.

Nara _hated_ being a princess.

She had short, brown hair which fell nearly to her shoulders, pale, freckled skin, and dark, average-brown eyes. A somewhat-ordinary appearance which, as far as she was concerned, was _not_ princess material.

She hated the ridiculous amount of attention, the incredible lack of freedom, and, most of all, the way her parents treated her, which was only made worse with the presence of her powers.

Nara was the first person in two generations of the Mukure family to be force-sensitive. The problem was, her parents hated the Jedi with a burning passion. Essentially, they took the bad history between Jedi and members of Naboo royalty rather personally. As a result, ever since that night when Nara accidentally demonstrated force abilities by force-pushing an attacker off of a balcony, her parents had put 24/7 security presence on her, they restricted her whereabouts to school and home only, and prohibited any and all visitors from seeing her.

Perhaps the only good thing about being in the Royal Family was Winson. Her faithful butler, Winson had always been there for her. As long as she could remember, Winson was there, every time. Nara considered him to be far more of a father than her biological one. As Nara grew up, Winson would tell her stories every night when she went to bed. Stories of great heroes, many of which were Jedi. From what Nara learned from the stories, Winson had grown up as a non-force-sensitive boy with many Jedi friends, who, despite the fact that he wasn't force-sensitive, would teach him basic techniques and such that they learned each day. He would then pass on those teachings to Nara. They were basic things, like breathing exercises, meditation techniques, etc.

But, he also helped her work on her force-manipulation techniques. Manipulating objects, force-enhanced agility (such as leaps and sprinting), and so on. The training was a secret that her parents were to never learn about.

One way or another, Nara's parents were always away on her birthday. It wasn't necessarily on purpose (though it had been at least once), but she hadn't spent a birthday with her parents since she was three. But Winson was there. He was always there. Year after year, he surprised her with some small but heartfelt gift. The previous year, Winson had given her a small, engraved chromium pocket watch, which she never dared to leave so much as her room without. And as it happened, Nara's parents were away again, and her 17th birthday was tomorrow.

This year, Winson's gift was going to be a little different. This year it would be something she yearned for more than anything else:

Escape.

The two of them had the whole thing planned out. Winson had already packed her bags, with everything she would need to survive, and stowed them aboard her father's H-Type Nubian Yacht, the _Epsilon. _Nara only had to pretend to go to bed, and wait until precisely 2:02 AM, at which point the guards would have a shift change. At that point, Winson had told her that he would find a way to distract them, and that all she had to do was make a break for the hangar. She just had to be patient...

_1:59 AM. _

The glow of the small clock on Nara's bedside table bathed her bed in a soft blue glow. Nara peered out from under the covers at the click, which ticked away at an agonizingly-slow pace. Fully dressed in her favorite purple hoodie, a pair of khaki combat pants, large, leather combat boots and a utility belt, strapped to which was a stolen chrome Naboo blaster, which was set to stun. She waited in agony for just the right moment.

_Come on, just a few more minutes,_ Nara thought with clenched fists. She pulled the cover of the bed back over her face.

She closed her eyes, and began doing some of the breathing exercises that Winson had taught her. She would need a perfectly clear mind and perfect concentration for what lay ahead.

She lifted the covers slightly, and peered out from underneath at the clock on her bedside.

_2:01 AM..._

_2:01..._

_01.._

_2:02__AM._

_Showtime, _she thought.

She leapt out of bed, far higher into the air than she had planned, and combat-rolled on the landing. She sprinted for the door, and just as it opened, she heard the clattering of helmets and armor to the floor. Outside, Winson was waiting, wearing a set of robes which Nara didn't recognize. At his feet were the two guards, who lay dazed and confused on the cold tile.

"I was beginning to think you weren't coming," Winson said, smiling.

"Oh, believe me, I wouldn't miss this for the universe," she replied, also smiling.

"That's my girl. Come on, we'd better move."

The two ran down the hallway and rounded the corner just as the shift change approached the door to Nara's room. They sprinted through the long, elaborate corridors until they finally arrived in the vast hangar. Waiting at the far end of the hangar, near the edge, was the _Epsilon_. And at the bottom of the boarding ramp...

Nara's parents were waiting.

Both Winson and Nara skidded to a halt. Nara's father stood at the base of the _Epsilon_, arms crossed, with a very unhappy look on his face. Nara's mother stood next to him, looking worried. A group of palace guards surrounded the two.

"Well, well…," the king said. "I'll be honest, Nara. I really didn't think you'd go this far, yet here you stand…"

Nara glared daggers at him.

"That kind of look isn't going to gain you access to the ship, my dear. _My_ ship, I should add. And you," He looked at Winson.

"I cannot believe you would betray us like this. I thought I knew you. I suppose I was wrong…"

Winson's eyes were ripe with frustration.

"If _anyone_ has committed betrayal, it is _you, _Argos! You have been holding this girl, your own _daughter_, back for too long. It is time for her to move on, to find her own path."

Argos's face was purple with rage.

"IT IS FOR _ME_ TO DECIDE WHAT HER FATE IS! AND I DECIDE THAT SHE IS _FORBIDDEN _TO LEAVE!"

Winson narrowed his eyes, then relaxed his face and closed them. He stood up straight, relaxed his shoulders, and outstretched his hand towards the king and queen.

"Winson..?" Nara inquired. "What are you doing?"

Suddenly, the king and queen were slowly lifted into the air, along with the palace guards. Within seconds, they were floating helplessly five feet in the air.

"Winson?! You… You.. You can.." Nara stammered.

Winson responded through clenched teeth, clearly trying to keep his focus.

"Yes, I am force-sensitive. I lied before to protect you. Now you have to go. Now!"

"But, wha-"

"_GO!"_

Nara ran. She ran faster than she ever had before. She sprinted up the boarding ramp of the _Epsilon_, which automatically retracted behind her. She ran into the cockpit and threw herself into the pilot's seat. Her fingers flying, Nara ignited the repulsorlift engines and fired up the main thrusters. She set the ship to autopilot while she left the hangar, and looked back towards her friend. When she looked back, Winson was surrounded, and he held a tall, glowing green blade. He looked straight at her, saw the escaping ship, and closed his eyes. He relaxed his shoulders, and the green blade shrunk back into the hilt in his fists. He collapsed to his knees, hands behind his head, and surrendered.

Nara watched in horror, confusion, and shock as the ship retreated into the clouds.


	8. Chapter VII: A New Threat

**CHAPTER VII: A New Threat (?)**

"_ARKH!"_ D'razz screamed, filled with unbelievable rage, a kind of anger he didn't even know was possible.

Nova was rushing around the cockpit, checking various readouts, pushing buttons and flipping switches. Various sounds emanating from the belly of the ship made it seem that something big was being powered up.

"D'razz, strap yourself in."

"What?" D'razz whipped to face him, his blind rage subsiding as quickly as it had arrived.

"I said, strap in. I'm firing up a bit of tech that I haven't tested yet, and I'd recommend you not be standing around," Nova said, continuing to flip switches. The powering-up sounds kept getting louder.

"Okay, engaging Subspace Cloak."

"Wait, Subspace wh-"

The ship jolted violently and began to vibrate with substantial force. Then, as suddenly as it started, the shaking stopped, and the view outside the windows appeared heavily distorted, as if the ship were underwater.

"What... What happened?" D'razz asked, dazed.

"I activated the Subspace Cloak, a device that bends the space within space-or Subspace-surrounding the ship to create an effect of complete invisibility.

"So, it's basically an incredibly complicated cloaking device, then?"

Nova looked at him with a slightly-confused look.

"Uhhh, yeah. That's why the word 'cloak' is in the name," he said.

"So, did the Pirates see us before we cloaked?" D'razz asked.

"You know what, that's an excellent question..."

"So, you don't know?"

"I haven't a clue."

"Right."

The awkward silence between them was ended when the alarm klaxon stopped. All the displays turned from red to blue. On the exterior view display, the Pirates' ship came about, and retreated back into hyperspace.

"They're gone," Nova said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness," D'razz remarked.

Nova got a look of confusion, as if not sure what to do.

"So, uhh... Want to, umm.. Want to continue the tour?" he asked.

"Sure."

Nova led D'razz towards the lift, but before they got to it, a new, different alarm began blaring.

"Oh, _what now?!_" D'razz cried, frustrated.

"Another proximity alarm?!" Nova shouted as he ran back to the console, which was pulsing green, not red. Nova hit a button, and the klaxon ceased.

"What was that?" D'razz asked?

"According to this readout, it's the 'friendly' proximity alarm," Nova said, attempting to interpret the console's report. "I think."

"You think? As in you don't know?"

"Honestly, no. Even I don't understand this ship fully. I will someday, though..."

"Well, who is it that has been picked up by the 'friendly proximity alarm'?"

"Umm…." Nova looked at the various screens. Seeing what it was, he raised an eyebrow.

"A… A Nubian ship? What the heck would a Nubian ship be doing out he-"

Before he could finish, the Nubian ship slung out of hyperspace, hurtling, out of control, directly towards the bridge of the Stormbreaker…


	9. Chapter VIII: Nubian Near-Miss

**CHAPTER VIII: The Nubian Near-Miss**

Nara was not what you'd call a very good pilot.

In fact, the only piloting she'd ever seen was in Holofilms. She'd never actually flown anything before in her life. That was why Winson had programed the autopilot himself.

Unfortunately, the autopilot had failed, and now Nara found herself in a ship travelling millions of miles per hour directly towards a star system. According to the flashing red panel on her console, she was maybe thirty seconds from crashing into Dathomir. If she wanted to live, she needed to activate the emergency hyperdrive shutdown. Problem was, there were an awful lot of switches in the cockpit, and hardly any of them were labeled.

Nara took a deep breath and focused.

"Computer?" she said, hoping to hear a response. She heard a short blip, as if indicating that the on-board computer was awaiting further instruction.

"Computer, initiate emergency hyperdrive shutdown sequence," she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

"Unable to comply. Automated shutdown sequence disabled. Manual control only," said a female-sounding voice that reminded Nara of her mother.

_Well, that's just great_, she thought. _But I'm not out of tricks yet…_

"Okay, computer, then highlight the proper button sequence required for manual override," she said, and the computer responded by lighting up a series of buttons, each a different color, based on the color-numerical system she had learned as a child. The thought through the sequence as she punched in the buttons.

_Okay, blue is one, red is two, yellow is three, green is four, orange is five, cyan is six, and magenta is seven. Got it!_

The ship rocked and shook as it was shunted back into normal space, but hurtling straight for the planet at high speed. Nara knew better than to stand around, so she strapped herself into the pilot's chair and hit the crash-landing setting on the console. But before the she even got to the atmosphere, she was grabbed by an incredibly powerful force that she couldn't see, which pulled her to a dead stop in less than three seconds.

Nara peered out the cockpit windows, trying to see what had stopped her, but saw nothing.

But then it appeared.

The space in front of her began to swirl and shimmer, and suddenly the most beautiful starship Nara had ever seen materialized before her very eyes. Before she had time to react, her console began beeping with a message. A communication request. She accepted it.

Before her, a holographic image of a young-looking man with wild hair appeared, looking relatively frustrated.

"Hey! Watch where you're flying! You nearly hit us!"

Nara got frustrated herself at his accusatory tone.

"Me?! How the heck was I supposed to have seen you? You're freakin' _invisible_!"


	10. Chapter IX: An Uninvited Guest

**CHAPTER IX: An Uninvited Guest**

For what was easily the tenth time that day, D'razz was thoroughly confused.

A ship had come out of hyperspace, flying straight towards them, only to be stopped dead in its tracks by some unseen force. He assumed that it had been the ship that had done it, but he had no idea how. And since Nova was getting yelled at by some girl over a comm line, there wasn't anywhere he could go to get his questions answered.

So, he listened in on Nova's conversation instead. From what he could tell, the girl was requesting permission to come aboard.

"Look, I don't know who you are or what you're doing here, but you are not coming aboard my ship!" Nova said, an exasperated look on his face.

"For goodness sake, listen to me! There's a squad of Naboo starfighters headed this way, and if they discover me, we'll all be killed!" the mystery girl cried, clearly scared out of her wits. Nova, however, didn't seem to pick up on her fear.

"Hey, uh, Nova?" D'razz approached him.

"What?" Nova asked, turning away.

"Maybe we really should let her on board. She seems really scared. A ship this big would have at least a small hangar bay, right?" D'razz said, trying as hard as possible to keep Nova from getting frustrated at him.

"Well, yeah, it has one, but-" Nova was cut off when, suddenly, a loud series of mechanical whirrs, clicks and whines began emanating from the lower decks of the ship.

D'razz looked out the window and saw the Nubian ship. Upon closer inspection, he saw what looked like a tractor beam latched onto it, pulling it towards the underside of the ship.

"Umm, Nova?"

Nova lets out a brief, exasperated sigh, then looked up from the console.

"What, D'razz?"

"The Nubian ship's moving."

"Wait, what?"

Nova scanned the display in front of him, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Wait, who-"

A look of realization hit him. He looked at the camera in the corner of the room.

"Why, you tricky little-"

A series of distorted blips came over the intercom, which sounded vaguely like chuckling.

Nova hit the 'end call' button and started walking towards the lift. He motioned for D'razz.

"Come on, let's go meet our 'guest'..."

The two of them enter the lift, which took them down into the ship, to a short hallway on the lowermost deck.

"This way," Nova said, beckoning.

They walked through a thick, pressure-sealed door and into a small observation room. D'razz approached the glass and looked out. Beyond it, D'razz saw a far wall, and beneath it, open, empty space. D'razz stepped back, a wave of nausea passing over him.

When he finally managed to get his stomach under control, he looked up to see Nova manning a small set of controls, which seemed to be controlling a specialized docking clamp. He looked out again, and saw that Nova was trying to hook on to the Nubian ship, which D'razz could now see clearly.

The docking clamp finally latched on to the ship, and seconds later, a series of giant, curvaceous retractable doors slid gently closed. A loud klaxon sounded in the room, indicating that the compartment was being pressurized. Then, completely out of nowhere, a floor materialized beneath the ship. Before D'razz had a chance to say anything, Nova answered his question.

"Hard light floor. Trust me, it'd take way too long to explain," he said, before walking over to the door and pressing the button to open it. In the doorway, he stopped and turned to D'razz.

"Coming?"

"Y-yeah..." D'razz said, following him.

Inside the hangar, Nova and D'razz walked over to the rear of the ship. With a hiss, the boarding ramp descended and a young girl stumbled dizzily down it. She couldn't have been more than 18, and D'razz wasn't entirely sure of what to think of her. Nova, however, seemed to have already made up his mind about her.

"Hello there," He said, a thin, sarcastic smile across his lips. "Would you care to explain how you nearly crashed straight into my ship at speeds exceeding 300,000 miles per hour?"

"Not particularly," the girl said. "Got any food?" she said, walking past them and stepping into the rest of the ship.

"H-hey! I didn't give you permission to come aboard!" Nova shouted, chasing after her.

D'razz just stood there, confused.


	11. Chapter X: Welcome Aboard

**CHAPTER X: Welcome Aboard**

"So, this is where you'll be sleeping," Nova said, gesturing to the doorway in front of them. A holographic name tag on the large sliding door already had "D'razz" written across it. D'razz pushed the button on the console next to the door, which slid open with a hiss. Inside, D'razz saw the largest, most luxurious bedroom he had ever seen. It was huge, with beautiful dark wood trim, and a gargantuan four-poster bed. When D'razz leaped onto it, it automatically set itself to his comfort level. Firm but soft, but without being too hard or too squishy. He felt like falling asleep right then and there, but he knew he wouldn't be able to, not after all that had happened to him over the past few days.

D'razz sat up and looked around. He realized that the corners of his vision were tinted turquoise. Then he remembered.

_Now, I've fitted you with mask… You lost a lot of skin… _He remembered Nova saying.

_It'll take two years…_

The realization hit him in the same way that Nubian ship would have.

D'razz walked through the door to what he correctly assumed to be the bathroom, and looked in the mirror.

A monster looked back at him.

The mask was a dark, carbon-fiber gray, with turquoise lenses and small, painted accents that resembled the tattoos he had had before. Its design was intimidating. Not menacing, but intimidating.

_I have to wear this for two years…?_ he thought.

He reached up and touched it. The feeling of cool metal ran through his fingers. His once pale-yellow flesh had been burned completely off, and covered up by this monstrosity of a device. D'razz could only think one thing.

_I… I'm a monster….._

Nara was a mess of emotions. She'd been lied to her all her life by her closest friend, whom she had abandoned, almost certainly to be executed. Then, she'd nearly crashed into the side of somebody's brand-new starship. Then, when they'd brought her on board, she'd made what could quite possibly have been the worst first impression the galaxy had ever known. "Got any food"? Really? Was that all she had to say? It made her feel awful. And to make matters worse, Nova had shown her to what was quite possibly the most elegant and beautiful bedroom she had ever had, simply because he was too good a person to throw her in the brig, like anyone else would have. Needless to say, Nara felt a need to apologize. So, she stood up and walked to the door, and pushed the button next to it. It slid open with a swoosh.

She wandered the hallway, looking for the lift. Then, almost as if the ship had read her mind, the door to the lift suddenly opened.

_That was weird… I could've sworn that door wasn't there a second ago…_ she thought.

She stepped inside, and was instantly confused even more.

"Wait," she said aloud, "Where the heck are all the buttons?"

As if in response, the door to the lift slid shut with a hiss. Then the lift started moving, and Nara had no idea how.

_I didn't tell it where I wanted to go. Does it know? Can this ship read my mind or something?_

When the door opened again, Nara stepped into what she assumed was the bridge, what with all the windows, displays, and consoles and all.

Nova was standing at one of the consoles, and seemed to be studying a large strand of data. Without looking up, he seemed to see her.

"Hello again, Princess," He said, still not looking up.

"Wait, how did you-" Nara started, but her words failed her. Nova chuckled softly.

"You honestly didn't think I'd recognize a H-Type Nubian Yacht? Only the Royal House of Naboo is even allowed to _have_ one of those. Believe me, I've tried. So, either you're a master ship thief, which, judging by that near-miss we had a little while ago, I sincerely doubt, or, you're a Nabooian Princess."

"Right.." Nara stumbled.

"So, are you going to tell me your real name? Or should I just keep calling you 'princess'?" Nova said, a thin smirk coming across his face.

"It's, uhh, it's Nara. Nara Mukure."

"Well, Nara Mukure, welcome aboard the _Stormbreaker_. What do you think of her?"

"What do I think? I think there's some serious witchcraft going on here. Lifts that appear out of nowhere and need no input whatsoever to know where you want to go? I don't think so. What's the secret?" she inquired.

"I was wondering when you'd ask that. Come with me," he said, finally looking up from the display, and walking towards the lift. He beckoned her inside.

Nara stepped inside, and the lift began moving. When it stopped, and the door opened, Nara swore her jaw dropped to the floor. Before her, a magnificent room stood, with elegant white walls and beautiful white arches, and wrapped in tubes that glowed blue with a strange form of energy. The energy in the tubes all seemed to emanate from the chamber in the center, which was completely empty, albeit from a small but blindingly bright blue sphere, which floated freely in the center.

"W-wha..?" Nara stammered. It was all she could manage.

Nova gestured to the room.

"This is the engine room, and that-" he said, pointing at the glowing object in the chamber in the center, "that is the Nova Sphere. It's a source of infinite energy, and it's what's powering this whole ship."

Nara finally managed to find her voice. "Wh-what's it made from?" she asked.

"A mixture of a series of top-secret chemicals, with my own force energy used as a catalyst," Nova said, a thin smile spreading across his lips.

"You… You're a Jedi?" Nara stammered, looking up at Nova.

"Yeah, I am. Why else do you think I brought you on board?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Umm… Out of the goodness of your heart?" She guessed, trying to look innocent.

Nova huffed out a chuckle. "Hardly. Come on, this way," he said, leading Nara to a small room in the back, behind the Nova Sphere chamber. Inside were a great number of cases, boxes, and chests, all full of supplies. He beckoned her over to a small case he had out on a tabletop.

Nova looked Nara straight in the eyes. When she returned her gaze, she saw that his piercing blue eyes were full of hope.

"Nara Mukure", he said, holding the case out to her, about to open it.

"The Force runs strongly through you. Incredibly strongly. I have waited for many years for someone of your level of force-sensitivity to find me. And I have known that when the time came, that I would take a Padawan learner, and teach them everything I know. And everything I know point to you as that Padawan. Do you accept?" he asked, as he opened the case. When he did, a brilliant purple light filled the room. Inside the case was the source; a small, plumbob-shaped gem, which glowed with the power of a star.

A Kaiburr Crystal.


	12. Chapter XI: Nara's Lament

**CHAPTER XI: Nara's Lament**

Nara was too stunned to speak. She reached into the case and picked up the crystal. When she held it, it felt warm and it made her skin tingle. When she finally found her voice, she sounded weak and feeble."M...me?" she asked. "me, a Jedi? But…. But I'm…"

"You're what? Reckless? Incredibly sassy and obnoxious?" Nova asked, a smug grin on his face.

"Y..yeah… I guess..." Nara said, taking on a dejected tone. She looked down at the floor,

"Hey," Nova said, and lifted Nara's head to look at her. "Come on. Don't be like that. You _absolutely_ have what it takes. But the first step is to wipe that dejected look off your face."

Nara looked down again. Nova suddenly seemed to get it. His face took on a sympathetic expression.

"That's not it, is it?" he said, sullenly. "There's more to it, isn't there?" he asked.

Nara nodded slightly. Tears were forming in her eyes, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

Eventually, her resolve collapsed. Nara sank to her knees, and Nova pulled her into a hug.

"That's it. Just let it out. Let it all come out, so your spirit can be free of the pain," he said.

They sat there for a few moments, until Nara managed to get a hold of herself. Once she did, Nara broke away and dried her eyes with her sleeve.

"Good. Now, you wanna talk about it?" he asked. Nara nodded slightly.

And then she told him everything.

"'Winson'?" Nova asked. "I know that name. I haven't heard that name in a long time…"

"You _knew_ him?" Nara asked, bewildered.

"Yeah. He always worked so hard, and he ended up washing out of the Jedi Academy just before he graduated. It was too bad. I guess he just wasn't force-sensitive enough.." Nova said, trailing off.

Nara reached into her pocket and pulled out the pocket watch. She showed it to Nova.

"Recognize this?" she asked, showing him the watch.

Nova looked at it, and his eyes went wide.

"Yeah, I do," he said, reaching for it. Nara pulled it back. Nova restrained himself.

"That was his. He carried that everywhere. He always said he'd never give it to anyone, that it was his most prized possession," Nova said, staring in awe at the little chromium timepiece. "If he gave that to you, he must trust you with his life."

That made Nara feel even worse. Finally, she told Nova what she'd been wanting to say.

"I...I can't..."

"Can't what?" Nova inquired.

"I can't become your Padawan. I… I just can't."

"Yes, you can," Nova said, looking her straight in the eyes. Nara found that she couldn't ignore it when those piercing blue eyes met hers.

Their gaze met for a few tense moments, then Nara sighed.

"Okay… I'll try," she said.

"No, you'll do it. Do or do not. There is no try," Nova said.

"How exactly does that work?" Nara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Honestly," Nova admitted, "I have no clue."

He changed the subject.

"Come on, let's go build you a lightsaber," he said.


	13. Chapter XII: The Cautious Cadet

CHAPTER XII: The Cautious Cadet

Rei T'vren was beginning to like the Empire less and less. Ever since she'd been assigned to the cadet program on Project Quasar, she'd only gotten more and more suspicious of all the things the Empire wasn't telling her.

The problem was, all she'd ever known was the Empire. Her family, her friends, and everyone she knew were Imperial supporters, but Rei suspected that it was mostly just because they were all wealthy, privileged people who didn't want to lose any of the benefits that their massive wealth granted them on a daily basis.

As far as Rei was concerned, joining the Empire was the only way to get away from all of them. So, a few years back, she'd enlisted in the Imperial Academy. She'd been a straight-A student, jumped on every extra-credit opportunity, and graduated at the top of her class. As a result, Imperial command had assigned her to Project Quasar.

And Rei had gotten too curious for her own good. After noticing a strange, recurring anomaly in the shipment delivery records, she had started spying in on the morning deliveries, and had made an unsettling discovery; Every third day, two shipments were delivered to the project instead of one, and the second was never put on the record. Rei determined that this either meant that the person in charge of documenting shipments was an idiot and should be fired, which was unlikely, or that there was something illegal, sinister, and possibly evil being brought in with those second shipments.

So, she had started snooping elsewhere, and had managed to acquire a life-shattering piece of information: Project Quasar was building a bomb.

But not just any bomb. The QA-4SR, or Quasar Bomb, was designed to act like a combination of a supernova and a black hole, in that it created a blast that completely ripped apart anything in its path, all the way down to a molecular level. It was a weapon of ultimate destruction, and Rei was not going to stand for it.

Luckily, Rei had been the top student in her piloting class, as well. And she knew the perfect way to get his hands on an imperial fighter long enough to make an escape. All she needed now was for the right moment to come. She would just have to wait.

* * *

Now was the time. She had all the data she had stolen stored in a small data drive she had in her pocket. And she had reserved a private training time slot in a fighter, during which she would stun the pilot and make her escape. And she was on her way to the training platform now. Everything was ready.

Rei walked out onto the landing platform, where the trainer stood waiting by what looked like a completely brand-new training fighter. Two seats, single-file, donned the front, and next to it stood the instructor that Rei would have to knock out. The pilot spoke as Rei approached.

"Welcome aboard, Cadet T'vren," the pilot said, "My name is Commander Winson. It is a pleasure to meet you."

The commander wore a standard Imperial pilot uniform, but he had the visor set on maximum tint, so Rei could only see his mouth and chin.

"A pleasure it is," Rei said, shaking the man's hand.

"Come. Let's begin your session," Commander Winson said.

The two climbed aboard the fighter, Rei in the pilot's seat, Winson sitting in the instructor's seat behind him.

Remembering her training, Rei fired up the engines and took off. As soon as they could no longer clearly see the base, Rei heard the commander shut off the communications system. Rei's spine tingled and adrenaline pumped through her veins. Whoever this guy was, he clearly knew all about Rei's little plan.

"So…," Commander Winson began, breaking the sudden silence in the cockpit. "Tell me, what is a young cadet such as yourself doing with a stolen data drive packed with closely-guarded Imperial secrets?" Winson said, a sly smile spreading across his face. Rei was jumping out of her skin. He said nothing.

"Very well, then," Winson said after a moment. He hit an override switch, and the ship came abruptly to a halt, high above the clouds. Rei's nerves were in overload. Her mind was racing, trying to find any way of getting out of this. She almost didn't hear the commander when he spoke up again.

"Now, before you go and do something rash, allow me to tell you something," he said, and reached up for the visor controls on his helmet.

Rei looked up at him. the commander had lowered the tint of his visor, revealing a pair of dark-green eyes, which were surprisingly friendly-looking. Somehow, just by looking him in the eyes, Rei felt surprisingly calm, almost as if the man's eyes held some unknown power.

"I am here to help you," Winson said.

"Wait, what?" Rei said, bewildered.

"I know what is on that drive of yours, and I know of a safe place to take it. I have been watching you for some time, and as soon as you signed up for a private piloting session, I signed myself up to be your instructor. Now, the Imperials will probably start getting suspicious anytime now, since I've already disabled the communications link with the academy, as well as the tracking device, so we best get a move on," he said. "I am uploading a set of coordinates to your screen. I suggest you set a course for them.

"R-right…" Rei said, still in shock at the sudden turn of events. She punched the coordinates into the navicomputer, and fired up the autopilot. She sat back and watched as the stars turned into long, silver streaks as the ship jumped into hyperspace.

After a few minutes of silence, Rei had a great deal of questions on her mind. Who is this guy? How did he know my plan? Where is he taking me? Can I trust him?

"So…," Rei said, breaking the silence, "Where are these coordinates taking us?" she asked.

"To the last known coordinates of an old friend of mine," Winson said. "I just hope she'll still trust me, or even forgive me for that matter…," he said, looking off to into the distance.

"How do I know this isn't a trap?" Rei asked, suddenly skeptical.

Winson chuckled. "Well," he said, "I guess you'll just have to have faith in the Force," he said.

Not very reassuring, Rei thought to herself.


	14. Chapter XIII: Trust your Instincts

**CHAPTER XIII: Trust Your Instincts**

Nara stood in a large, circular training arena, on one of the middle-level decks of the ship. Behind her stood Nova, helping her with a fighting stance. In her hand, she held a small, elaborate-looking canister, an elegant, curvaceous shape, and plated with a chromium finish. Nara's face looked tense, but ready.

"Okay," Nova said, "Light her up."

Nara pressed the little red switch and a brilliant purple blade sprung to life in her hands. Nara stared at it for a moment, then resumed her stance.

"There, you see? That looks great," Nova said, observing her.

Nara flashed him a sly grin.

"Okay, here come the targets," Nova said, pressing buttons on a console on the wall.

"Wait, _targets?!"_ Nara said, looked at him, eyes wide.

A series of projectors embedded in the walls activated, and a barrage of various hard-light targets began moving and swirling towards her. Before she had time to think, Nara's instincts took over, and she began dodging, slashing, and slicing all the targets until moments later they all had been shattered into hard-light particles. The pieces vanished as the projectors deactivated.

Nara tried to catch her breath. She deactivated the lightsaber, and looked at her own hands, amazed at what she had just done.

Nova was clapping slowly, a huge, beaming smile across his face.

"That was _great!_" he said.

"I.. I don't know how I did that…," Nara said slowly, still bewildered.

"I do," Nova said, approaching her. "You let your instincts take over, which was the whole point of this exercise. And you aced it, first try," he said, resting an arm on her shoulder.

Nara stared down at her lightsaber. A proud smile appeared on her face. She looked up at Nova, her eyes sparkling with determination.

"I want to do that again," she said, confidently.

"That's what I wanted to hear," Nova said, and walked back to the console.

_It's been hours…_, D'razz thought to himself. _I wonder what they're doing…_

D'razz got off his bunk and walked out into the corridor. He found the lift, and it began moving lower and lower into the ship. When it stopped and the door opened, he saw a large, blast-proof door in front of him labeled "Training Arena". He pressed the button on the console next to it and the door slid open.

"_Whoa!"_ D'razz shouted, as he ducked suddenly to prevent a flying piece of metal from taking his head off.

When he stood back up, He saw Nara in the center of the room, and strange, target-like objects swirled around her. Nova stood by one wall, rapidly pressing buttons on a console, as if trying to shut down something. Finally, the swirling targets stopped moving and vanished into thin air.

Nova looked at D'razz, a disapproving look on his face.

"D'razz," he said, shaking his head slowly, "When you see a giant, glowing red sign labeled 'training in session', usually that means you shouldn't enter," he said.

"Umm…," D'razz said, confused, "What sign?"

Nova suddenly got a puzzled look on his face.

"What, was there not a sign?" he asked.

"Nope," D'razz said.

Nova let out an exasperated sigh.

"Okay, well, basically, Nara and I were-"

He was interrupted when the proximity alarm went off, and panels on the walls began pulsing slowly green.

"The proximity alarm _again?!_" Nova said, frustrated, "Come on, guys," he said, turning to the two of them, "Let's go see who else wants to come aboard."


	15. Chapter XIV: Forgiveness

CHAPTER XIV: Forgiveness

Winson had gone quiet. Looking down at her console, Rei saw that they were approaching the coordinates that Winson had given her. She just hoped that an imperial fleet wasn't waiting for them at the exit to hyperspace. She would soon find out, though.

"Hey, Commander?" Rei said. She heard a grunt, and some shuffling from behind him.

He was asleep… Rei thought, chuckling softly. Winson seemed to know what she was thinking, though.

"It is perfectly reasonable for a man of my age to try and get some rest on a long journey. You should've tried to get some yourself. It may be a while before you get another chance to sleep," he said, yawning.

"Well, We're approaching the coordinates," Rei said.

"Yes, I know," Winson said, stretching.

10 seconds… Rei thought. I really hope this isn't a trap…

The stars streaked back, and the ship emerged back into normal space.

Rei saw nothing at first. But on closer inspection, there was a strange shape. A shimmer, like a massive distortion in the stars. Then, the shimmer vanished, and in its place gleamed the most beautiful starship she had ever seen. She heard Winson let out a long, bewildered gasp. She didn't even notice when the ship got a tractor-beam lock on them.

Rei's screen lit up with an incoming communication request. When she accepted it, a hologram of a young man with wild hair appeared before him.

"So, who might you be?" the man asked, slowly. Before Rei had a chance to say anything, Winson took over the transmission.

"A pleasure to see you again, Master Xaris," he said, smiling.

The man's face lit up somewhat.

"A pleasure it is indeed, Winson. I believe I have a friend of yours on board with me here…," he said, turning.

"Nara!" he shouted, away from them. "Someone for you!"

Then, a young girl appeared next to him.

"W..Winson?" she asked, stunned.

"Hello again, Nara."

* * *

When the fighter had docked, Nara refused to be in the hangar. Instead, she stayed in the training room, running simulation after simulation, trying to take her mind off of her old friend, and his sudden appearance.

After nearly four consecutive runs, she ended the training program. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out the watch. As she stared at it, a fiery rage filled her, and she did the unthinkable. She threw the pocketwatch across the room. It smashed into the wall and clattered to the floor, a large crack forming in the glass of the timepiece.

Immediately realizing what she had done, she ran over to it and picked it up, incredible feelings of sadness and regret washing over her. As she crouched over it, she heard the door to the room open on the other side of the room. In the doorway stood Nova, D'razz, a dark-skinned girl she had never seen before, and Winson. Only Winson entered the room, and the door closed behind him. A thin smile donned his face, but his eyes twinkled with sadness and regret.

"I have lost your trust, haven't I?" he asked, seemingly knowing the answer.

"How..," Nara struggled to find words. "How could you lie to me? For so many years, you lied! you lied to me! You're just like mom and dad, always keeping me in the dark about the truth! You're no better than them," she said, averting his gaze.

Winson sighed heavily. He walked over to her, afraid to touch her. But when he got close, Nara surprised him by pulling him into a firm hug. He wrapped her arms around her, and patted her on the back.

"Please…," Nara said, her voice cracking, tears in her eyes, "Please, tell me… tell me that there isn't anything else you haven't told me…," she said.

"Nothing else. And I swear," Winson said, looking her straight in the eyes, "I swear never to lie to you again, for the rest of my life."

Nara sighed, and continued to hug him. Winson smiled softly. After a few moments, Nara spoke up again.

"Then I forgive you," she said.


	16. Chapter XV: The Hidden Payload

CHAPTER XV:

Nova was getting really tired of the proximity alarm.

"God, now what?!" he shouted, over the sound of the blaring klaxon. The walls pulsed red, indicating a bigger threat was incoming.

"Come on, let's go!" Nova shouted to the others, beckoning them into the lift. Rei and D'razz scrambled in.

"Where are Nara and Winson?" Nova asked.

"Right here," Nara said, suddenly running in, Winson at her heels. "What's the situation?" she asked, as the lift began rising.

"No clue," Nova said, "but judging by the pulsing red wall panels, I assume it's not good."

The lift opened, and Nova sprinted into the bridge and flung himself into the chair to the left of the main center console. He strapped himself in and picked up a small, chromium headset device, which covered his left ear, and had a small transmitter-like device placed against his left temple.

"Nara, D'razz," Nova said, "strap in there and there." He pointed to two chairs on the other side of the main console. Nara and D'razz strapped themselves in.

"What about us?" Rei asked.

"Umm," Nova looked around frantically, looking for a place for him and Winson. Then he saw it.

"Winson," he said, "you still know how to man a turret?"

Winson looked surprised at the question.

"Y-yes, I believe so...," he said.

"Good. Strap yourself in there." Nova pointed to a chair to his left.

Winson strapped in, and Rei got in the chair next to him. Winson got a bewildered look on his face.

"This... This is more advanced than anything I've ever seen!" he said.

Nova chuckled.

"Yeah, but the controls are essentially the same. Here, let me arm the weapons systems for you..," he said, a smug smile forming on his face.

With a series of mechanical clicks and whirrs, nearly every single square inch of paneling on the ship's exterior moved to reveal some sort of high-tech weapon. From proton torpedo launchers to quad-barrel multi-vector turbolaser banks, the ship was armed to the teeth.

"Where did all those come from?!" Nara asked, eyes wide with amazement.

"Like I said," Nova responded, "this baby's full of all kinds of surprises."

The screen in front of Rei began pulsing. It had made a match for the ships headed their way. Rei gasped softly when she saw them.

"Oh no..." she said, slowly. "They found me. I don't know how, but they found me. Guys, we've got incoming!"

"Who?" Nara asked, "who found us?"

"Who do you think?!" Rei screamed."The Empire!"


	17. Chapter XVI: Know Your Enemy

CHAPTER XVI: Know Your Enemy

"10 seconds to intercept," Rei said, relating the information on her screen.

Nova stared out the forward viewport, watching, waiting for the armada that was soon to arrive. And seconds later, it did.

They all emerged from hyperspace simultaneously. Nova counted twenty Star Destroyers and at least a hundred frigates. Seconds later, Nova's console chimed with a transmission request. He accepted it.

"Master Xaris," a cold, sharp-sounding voice said from the other line, "A pleasure it is to finally meet you face-to-face."

A tall, older-looking man in an Imperial uniform emanated from Nova's holographic console. Nova recognized the man.

"Jonathan Van Haveren," Nova said, slowly. "A pleasure it is."

"I assume you know why I am here," Haveren said, placidly. "I have been made aware that there is a renegade cadet carrying stolen Imperial secrets aboard your vessel. My orders are to retrieve the stolen hard drive Imperial property and bring the rogue cadet into custody at any cost. So, I demand that you deactivate your shields and surrender the boy to us, and no harm will come to you or your friends."

Nova looked puzzled. "Umm, Rei's a girl, not a boy…," he said.

Haveren looked startled by that fact. But he regained his composure in seconds. "Regardless, Master Xaris, surrender the cadet. Otherwise I will destroy you. Do not test me," he said.

A determined look came across Nova's face. He looked at the others, and stared back at Haveren.

"Yeah, no. I have no intention of surrendering. I'm prepared for a fight, so, good luck trying to make me give her to you," Nova said, confidently.

A sly smile spread across Haveren's lips.

"So be it," he said, and closed the transmission.

* * *

I am going to die," Rei said, "after all that's happened, this is how it ends."

"I wouldn't count on it," Nova said, seemingly preparing himself.

Nova hit a button on his console, and a large panel slid open. A large, advanced-looking steering yoke extended out in front of him, and he grabbed hold of the two large grips. To his left, a hidden console slid out, and what looked like a throttle control lever rose out. Nova gripped the lever with his left hand, and the yoke with his right. On all the main screens, the words "Manual Control Engaged" began pulsing.

"Wait," Nara said, "Manual control?!"

"Hold on to something!" Nova shouted, a huge, excited smile on his face.

The Star Destroyers all opened fire at once. Nova pushed the throttle lever to the floor and thrusted forward with the control yoke. Rei felt her stomach turn inside out as the ship dove downwards with incredible speed, performing various rolls and turns as it went.

Rei looked around at the others. D'razz was clutching the sides of his seat, and Rei was fairly sure that without that mask, he'd be cringing. Winson was trying to keep his composure, but it was obvious that he was holding back vomit. Nara, on the other hand, was loving it. She had her hands straight up to the ceiling, like on a rollercoaster, screaming her head off excitedly.

Looking at the tactical display in front of her, Rei saw that the maneuvers that Nova was pulling were doing more than just nauseating her. She saw that they were successfully dodging nearly all that the Imperials were throwing at them. Clearly, Nova knew what he was doing.

Rei closed her eyes and tightened her stomach muscles, trying to hold back the terror. Then suddenly, she felt the ship start to level out, and noticed on her screen that the Imperials had stopped firing. On Nova's console, Admiral Haveren appeared once again.

"You do realize that your efforts are pointless, yes?" Haveren said, frustration apparent in his voice. "There is no escape. My Star Destroyers have trapped your ship in a gravity well, which means you will not be finding refuge in hyperspace. I demand that you surrender and give us the girl. Otherwise, I will be forced to destroy you."

Without a word, Nova terminated the transmission, and began punching something into the console before him. Winson seemed to know what he was doing.

"Didn't you hear him? They have gravity generators. What good will programming the navicomputer going to do if we can't make the jump to lightspeed?"

"I'm not programming the navicomputer," Nova said, turning to a console to his left. "And they may have gravity generators now, but watch this."

He pushed a button, and in seconds all the hidden weapons systems had emerged from their panels and had locked on to all the cruisers at once. Nova reopened the transmission with Haveren.

"There. That's more like it. Now, Admiral, as you can clearly see, I have all my weapons systems armed and pointed directly at your ship. Specifically, it's life support, communications array, engines, and bridge. Now, if you want to live, I'd recommend you tell your men to stand down and leave. Otherwise, you're going to learn firsthand what it feels like to be sucked out into space through a giant hole in your bridge. Don't believe me?" he said, looking intently at the screen,

"Try me."


	18. Chapter 17: The Failing Failsafes

*****NOTE: The character "Joshua Stryker" has been changed to "Rei T'vren", a girl. I'd recommend re-reading prior chapters to see what's changed. Also, much has been added to Chapter II and others, so, again, I'd highly recommend re-reading some of the prior chapters.*****

-_DoctorPortal_

**Chapter 17: The Failing Failsafes**

Nova could tell that Admiral Haveren hated defeat. But, he did at least acknowledge when he was beaten. Nova respected that. He watched as the last of Haveren's ships retreated into hyperspace, then stood up and turned to face the others. They all looked fine, if a little green-faced. He addressed them.

"So, what do you guys think? I'd say that was some pretty impressive maneuv-"

Nova was cut short when the ship suddenly lurched hard to one side, and he was thrown against the side wall. Multiple different alarms and beeping noises sounded all at once.

"What's happening?!" Nara shouted. Nova ran over to the flashing screens on the center console to inspect the damage.

"We're losing power!" he shouted, a worried look on his face. "We've got multiple power distribution ruptures in the engine room! I've got to get down there!" Nova shouted, and sprinted into the lift. Nara unstrapped her harness and tried to follow him, but the lift door closed just before she reached it. Winson ran over to her.

"Nara!" he shouted. "We may have to evacuate! If there truly are ruptures in the energy distribution lines, then we may have a full reactor meltdown on our hands!"

"I can't leave him! I've got to help!" Nara shouted, over the still-blaring alarms.

Before Winson could respond, the ship began listing to one side, and the lights started flickering. Suddenly, the gravity generators failed, and Nara and Winson floated up towards the ceiling. Rei unstrapped herself from her harness. She'd had a great deal of zero-g training, and it showed as she effortlessly floated off the floor, up to Winson's side.

"Look," she said, "one way or another, we have to help Nova. We can't just evacuate. There's gotta be something we can do."

Winson pondered for a moment, then looked up and snapped his fingers.

"You know what?" he said, "I think I have a plan…."

* * *

Nova was the only thing holding the ship together. He stood in the center of the engine room, both arms outstretched, using what little force power he could muster to surround the Nova Sphere Chamber in a force bubble. If he slipped for even a moment, the energy would leak out and explode, killing him and everyone else instantly. His hope was that he could hold out until the ship's automated repair system kicked in.

_Assuming it does kick in,_ Nova thought. He pushed that thought out of his mind. He needed perfect focus to prevent the whole chamber from collapsing, because if it did, the resulting explosion would nearly be one-third the size of a supernova. Nova didn't want to be remembered as the one who accidentally vaporized an entire star system, and since they still hadn't left the Dathomir system yet, that's exactly who he'd be if he failed.

What Nova had not told the others was that the force power he had used to create the Nova Sphere had taken so much energy that he hardly had any left to spare. Which, normally, wasn't much of an issue, as Nova could rely on things like his intellect, experience, and occasionally his lightsaber skills to solve his problems. But now, none of those things would do him any good.

_I just hope the others are safe,_ he thought. _For all I care, those people up there are all innocent civilians who haven't done anything wrong, and here I am about to vaporize all of them in a massive explosion. I have to do this, for their sake!_

The thought filled Nova with a temporary burst of hope. He closed his eyes, and pushed a little harder. Then suddenly, he heard the exact sound he had been hoping for. A slow, pulsating tone, indicating that the emergency structural integrity force fields were active, and that the auto-repair system had been activated. Nova collapsed to his knees with a heavy sigh of relief.

Then he heard a sound he wasn't expecting. A soft knocking sound, coming from somewhere above him. He looked up, and saw the glass to the observation room on the upper level. Nara was there, smiling, waving at him. Nova waved back, a puzzled look on his face.

* * *

_4 minutes earlier..._

"What are you suggesting, Rei?" Nara asked.

"Well," Rei said, "there's gotta be some form of observation room, right? All cruisers of this classification have something like that, which usually contain the override for the reactor safeguards. I can only assume that a ship with this experimental a power source would have a million failsafes, all of which appear to be failing right now."

"So," Nara continued, " if we can get to that control room, we can re-initialize the safeguards!"

"Exactly!" Rei shouted, pointing at her. They high-fived, and each pushed off towards the lift. Winson pushed off after them, following them to the door, which opened when they approached.

Except, the lift itself wasn't there. It was just the empty shaft.

"We'll have to navigate through the shaft," Rei said, her voice echoing in the expansive metal corridors below her.

She, Nara, and Winson pulled themselves into the empty shaft. Winson beckoned for D'razz, who still floated in the bridge, and looked fairly worried, even with the mask preventing any facial expressions.

D'razz tried to push off to catch up with them, and ended up spinning awkwardly into the shaft. Rei placed one hand on the far wall, and put her other hand against D'razz's shoulder to stabilize him.

"Thanks," D'razz said.

The group navigated through the empty shaft, Rei leading, following sets green arrows that flickered faintly on specialized emergency panels that lined the walls of the complex network of metal corridors. Eventually, the arrows lead them down to a small hallway adjacent to the engine room. Nara and Rei pushed off the wall of the shaft and into the corridor. Before them sat a large door, which led to the engine control room. So far, so good.

Except, the door wouldn't open.

"The door mechanism's jammed! Nara, help me force this open!" Rei said, trying to pull the sliding door panels apart.

_Force,_ Nara thought.

A determined look crossed Nara's face, and she closed her eyes, facing the lift. Slowly, she took a deep breath, and reached out with the Force, trying to find the jammed mechanism within the door. She found it, and with a short nudge, it sprung loose and the door shot open with a loud clang. Rei stared at Nara in awe for a moment, then gathered herself and floated inside. Nara, Winson, and D'razz followed.

Through the windows of the control room, they saw Nova, standing at the base of the Nova Sphere Chamber, using all his might to surround it in a force bubble. He was clearly losing the fight.

"Come on!" Rei shouted. "Where's the override switch?!"

"Here!" Winson shouted, pointing at two strange-looking rotary dials on the main console.

"I recognize these," Winson said. "They require use of force abilities, like the locks in the old Jedi Temple. Nara, come here," he said, beckoning Nara over.

"Concentrate on moving this. We can only do it together," he said, determination intertwined in his voice. Nara looked up at him.

"Let's do it," she said. She closed her eyes, and outstretched her hand towards the dial in front of her. Winson did the same, and with a single flick of the wrist, the dials spun and sank in.

Suddenly, the gravity reengaged, and Nara, Winson, and the others all fell flat on the ground, all except for Rei, who landed flawlessly on her feet. On the screens in front of them, the words "Emergency Safeguards Re-initialized" appeared. Looking out the window, Nara saw Nova standing down as a series of advanced-looking force fields took over surrounding the Nova Sphere. She waved to Nova, and he waved back, an inquisitive look on his face.

"We did it," Nara said, trying to catch her breath.

"Yeah," Rei said. "We did."


	19. Chapter 18: Sleep on the Stormbreaker

**Chapter 18: Sleepless on the Stormbreaker**

D'razz was exhausted. So much had happened in such a short time that his brain was officially overloaded.

After Nara, Winson and Rei saved the ship, D'razz had followed them down into the engine room, where high-fives and hugs were exchanged left and right throughout the group. Nova addressed them, saying how he was so glad they were all okay, and how Nara had finally proven her true Jedi potential, and so on. D'razz tuned most of it out, but the last sentence caught his attention.

"Now," Nova said, "how about I show you all to your quarters, and we all go and get some sleep?" he said. D'razz nodded hypnotically, mesmerized by the thought of rest. They were all exhausted.

The moment D'razz stepped through the door to his room, his emotional resolve shattered, like taking a rock to glass, and thoughts of his grandmother flooded through his mind.

_She... She's gone..., _he thought. _She's... dead..._

Images flashed through his mind. Visions of the house, the Pirate's ship, and the massive explosion that destroyed his face and reduced his grandmother to a pile of dust. D'razz wanted to cry. But no tears came. The mask that covered his disintegrated skin wouldn't allow it.

A flood of emotions overtook him. Anger, confusion, sadness, loneliness, fear. The torrential storm of feelings overtook D'razz, and he collapsed onto the bed, curled up into a ball, and quietly sobbed himself to sleep.

* * *

Rei hadn't even thought about sleep since she got on board. Too much had happened all at once for her mind to register any form of exhaustion. But as she discovered, one can only run on adrenaline for so long. And after seeing her room, the effects took their toll.

After being shown to her quarters, Rei first went on a small tour of the rooms, trying to see what all there was. Through a door in the far corner, she found a full-blown bathroom. And in it, she found a working shower, with running water and everything. Rei hadn't seen running water on a starship in her life. She didn't even know that people did that at all. But it was there, so Rei took advantage of it.

When she got out, she found a few bathrobes in a side cabinet. She changed into one of them and walked out into the bedroom proper. Walking over to the bed, she pulled back the covers, and climbed into what could only be described as the most comfortable bed she had ever been in. It was perfectly attuned to her ideal comfort preference; nice and firm, yet soft at the same time.

Instantly, a wave of exhaustion and sleepiness washed over her, and she fell rapidly into the welcoming arms of sleep.

* * *

Nara, on the other hand, was having extreme difficulty getting to sleep.

She lay atop the covers on the bed, still wearing her purple hoodie. Her boots sat on the floor at the base of the bed, and her lightsaber and utility belt were draped across the bedside table.

Her thoughts kept returning to her parents. She kept thinking about them, and how after so many years of dreaming of escape, she'd finally gotten away. But she'd never could have imagined that all this would happen.

After nearly an hour of trying and failing to sleep, Nara got up and walked out into the corridor. Once again, the ship seemed to know where she wanted to go, and a series of pulsing green arrows lit up on the walls, leading to Winson's room.

"Thanks," she said softly. She heard a short, soft whirring sound and a few clicks in response.

Arriving at Winson's room, Nara pressed the button on the console next to the door. He answered moments later, wearing a set of pajamas. Nara had expected him to have been asleep, half-awake with messy hair, but instead he appeared fully awake.

"Couldn't sleep either?" he asked in his slow, soft tone. His facial expression suggested that he already know the answer. Nara nodded slightly.

"Come on in," he said, beckoning her inside. "I've got something that might help."

He walked over to a small desk up against the far wall. On it sat the little chromium pocket watch, surrounded by a number of tools. The glass inside the watch still had the large crack in it from when Nara threw it.

"I really must've upset you," Winson began, sitting down at the desk, "because this little thing got one heck of a crack put in it." He chuckled softly.

Looking down at the little chromium timepiece, Nara felt sullen and ashamed. Clearly, it showed on her face, because Winson began to pat her on the back reassuringly.

"It's okay, young one," he said, pulling Nara's shoulder against his, "It can be repaired."

He force-pulled a chair up to the desk, and Nara sat down next to him.

"I don't know about you," Winson said, putting on a pair of reading glasses, "but tinkering and fixing things is a great way for me to relax. Care to join me?" he asked, offering Nara a set of tools.

Nara nodded slightly and took the tools from him."Well then," Winson said, looking down at the watch. "Let's get started."

* * *

Winson stood up from the desk. He reached down and picked up Nara from underneath, and carried her to the bed against the wall. She had finally fallen asleep after nearly an hour of working on the watch. Winson had helped a little, using his force abilities to help her relax, but the exhaustion had been there, and now Nara was sound asleep. He placed her down onto the bed and pulled the covers up to her chest. She rustled slightly, then became still. Winson smiled to himself as he sat down in an armchair adjacent to the bed, and allowed sleep to take him, as well.

* * *

At first, Nara's dreams were perfectly calm and normal. But not long after finally falling asleep, Nara started to have visions.

She saw her parents, specifically her father, addressing an elite-looking squad of Naboo pilots. He was briefing them on something, but Nara couldn't figure out what. She felt a sense of impending danger, and suddenly the scene changed to an intense space battle, in which the Naboo pilots were being shot down, and her parents were being taken... Kidnapped... and Nara couldn't see who it was... She hear her mother and her two sisters crying, screaming...

Nara sat bolt upright in the bed, eyes wide, sweat dripping from her hair. She looked around, and saw that she was sitting on Winson's bed. Winson himself was snoring softly in a small armchair in a far corner near the door, his head tilted back against the back of the chair. He grunted once, then snorted, then woke up, snapping his head up. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he looked over at Nara, and immediately sensed something wrong.

"You've been having visions, haven't you, young one?" he said, his tone smooth as always, but sprinkled with worry.

Nara was speechless. But she didn't need to say anything. Winson could read her like a book.

Winson stood up and walked over to the bed. He sat on the bed next to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Nara, look at me," he said. After a few moments, Nara slowly looked over at him.

"What you just experienced is what Jedi call a 'vision'," Winson said, "They are a very common occurrence, especially for new force-users such as yourself. They can be very powerful, very overwhelming, but the trick to dealing with them is to share the experience with friends. So," he said, looking her straight in the eye, "What did you see?"


	20. Chapter 19: Only the Beginning

**Chapter 19: Only the Beginning**

Nova paced slowly around the bridge. According to his screen, the automated repair process would take another eight hours to repair the damage done to the power distribution lines, and another two hours beyond that to get the engines back online. Which meant that, for the first time in his life, Nova had some time to kill.

Boredom was something Nova rarely had to deal with. His life was normally so full of action, struggle, and intensity that he never had time to become bored. But now, with all the others asleep, and the engines temporarily offline, Nova had absolutely nothing to do.

Suddenly remembering what waited in his quarters, he walked over to the lift, which took him down to the corridor with everyone's rooms. His quarters were at the end of the hall, and he walked over to the door as quietly as he could, careful so as not to wake anyone.

Nova's room was slightly different from the other rooms on the ship. It was comfortable, but it was more utilitarian than it was luxurious. A simple-looking bed sat against the far wall, with a single bedside table on the left side. Instead of elaborate wood trim and pristine off-white colors, his rooms was painted mostly a dull gray, with hints of dark red along the bedspread and the carpet. Thin crystal tubes were embedded along the walls, which glowed faintly with Nova Sphere Energy. They bathed the room in a warm glow, which eliminated the need for conventional lights. All told, the room looked rugged and simplistic, yet elegant, with a hint of futuristic appeal.

Upon entering his room, Nova walked over to the bedside table and pulled open the small drawer. Inside sat one item:

Khorisa's Holocron.

Nova picked it up, placed it into the inside pocket of his red jacket, and walked back to the lift, which took him back up to the bridge.

Sitting in the pilot's chair, Nova placed the holocron on the console in front of him, and concentrated. The holocron lifted slowly off the table, and began rotating, shifting, and unfolding, until a bright flash of light emanated from inside as Nova's conscious was transported into the cube.

Nova stood in the vast, milky expanse that he knew all too well. And before him stood an old friend.

"_Hello again, Nova," _Master Khorisa said, a wide smile across his face.

Nova kneeled down on one knee, and looked up at Khorisa.

"_Hello, master. Long time no see,"_ Nova said. He, too, was smiling.

"_I suppose congratulations are in order," _Khorisa said. "_For you have accomplished something great."_

Nova got a puzzled look on his face.

"_Master? What do you mean?" _he inquired.

"_You have passed every test I could throw at you. You have completed your Jedi training,"_ Khorisa said.

Tears of joy appeared in Nova's eyes. No words came to him for several seconds.

"_Master, I…," _he began, then stopped short, taking a moment to try and form words to say.

"_You need not say anything. Here,"_ Khorisa said, pulling out a strange bundle of cloth out from a pocket in his robe. He handed it to Nova.

"_I have wondered to myself for a long time exactly what I would give you to signify the end of your training," _Khorisa said, "_And I think this will do quite nicely."_

Nova looked at the bundle of cloth, which was neatly folded into a small square. He unfolded it, to reveal an elegant, dark-red hooded cloak.

"_What... what is it?" _Nova asked.

"_It is an ancient Jedi battle cloak. Cloaks like these were worn __in the ancient days of the Jedi, very near the beginning. It was woven with embedded flecks of Xentium crystal, which also happens to be the same crystal that makes up the hull of your ship."_

Nova's eyes went wide with curiosity.

"_Is that what that is?" _Nova asked. "_I just found mass quantities of it in a sealed-off chamber on Tython. I never could find out what it was called."_

"_That's not all,_" Khorisa said. "_Turn it over."_

On the other side of the cloak was a strange clasp, which was fashioned out of the same crystal, and was shaped like an insignia that Nova did not recognize. It looked like a strange sort of wreath, with a glowing star in its center. Nova stared at in awe for a moment before he said anything.

"_What is this insignia?"_ he asked.

"_It is the ancient insignia of the Old Jedi Order, which dates back to millennia ago," _Khorisa said. "_I believe that, since I doubt that anyone would recognize it anymore, that it is a perfect choice for a symbol that you can make all your own."_

Nova was speechless. When he finally looked away from the cloak and up at Khorisa, his eyes twinkled. He stood up, and looked straight at Khorisa.

"_Thank you, Master…,"_ he said. Khorisa beamed at him.

"_You have done so much, Nova. And you still have yet to do so much more," _Khorisa said.

A comfortable moment of silence fell between them. Nova pulled the cloak over his shoulder and around, draping it across his back. He pulled the hood over his head, and clasped them together with the crystal insignia. When he looked back at Khorisa, Nova's irises glowed bright blue with emotion.

"_Congratulations, Master Xaris," _Khorisa said_. _"_You have a great journey ahead of you. One which will shape the lives of millions, for generations to come. This is only the beginning of something great. Good luck, my friend. And may the Force be with you…"_

And with that, Khorisa vanished, and Nova snapped back into reality. The holocron slowly reassembled and lowered softly back onto the console. Looking around, Nova saw that he still wore the dark red cloak that Khorisa had given him. It sparkled and twinkled in the lights of the bridge.

Nova smiled to himself and stood up from the chair. He walked over towards the lift, which he took not to his quarters, but down to the engine room. Once there, he walked over to the base of the Nova Sphere chamber, and lied down on his back, the cloak acting like a blanket.

Lulled by the soft rumble of the engines, Nova drifted off peacefully to sleep.


	21. Chapter 20: The Stormbreaker Crew

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

_To my amazing readers:_

Hey, guys. I realize that's it's been a while since I posted a chapter. I've been having to put my focus into classes in Summer School (to free up my schedule for next school year), plus I've been suffering a bit of writer's block for a while, but I've moved past it! And I really think this chapter makes up for all that time, since it is easily my longest (and in my opinion best) chapter yet! I really hope you enjoy, and thanks again to those of you who have kept up with the story (BobStory, Wish, looking at you xD), I really appreciate all your comments and I hope you continue to enjoy my story as it plays out. Thanks, and enjoy Chapter 20, my longest chapter yet!

~DoctorPortal

**Chapter 20: The Stormbreaker Crew**

Nara opened her eyes slowly. As her vision shifted slowly into focus, her sleep-muddled brain struggled to make sense of her surroundings. When her eyes finally adjusted to the dim light, she remembered that she was in Winson's room, and that he'd helped her through some serious psychological issues she'd been suffering from the previous night. And Winson had been right, in that by describing and discussing what she'd seen in her vision, Nara had managed to clear her mind enough to get some sleep.

Lying on her back, Nara looked slowly around the room, her mind still groggy from sleepiness.

In the corner near the door, Winson dozed in the armchair, his head lolled against the back of the chair, his feet extended slightly outward. He snored softly.

The wall opposite the door was curved slightly outward from the floor, so that the ceiling stretched longer in that direction than the floor.

The wall was coated in elegant, dark-wood paneling, which had been polished carefully so as to gleam slightly, but not be too reflective. She stared at it for a moment, then sat up, dangling her legs over the side of the bed. As soon as she did so, she heard a soft pinging noise as a motion sensor detected her, then a series of mechanical whirring could be heard from within the wall.

Suddenly, the wooden wall panels began retreating upward into the ceiling, revealing huge, transparisteel windows, which overlooked the surface of Dathomir, which was darkened in the shroud of night. Then, an awe-inspiring scene took place beyond the viewport.

The sun rose from behind the planet.

It started out as just a bright flash. But then it grew, sending a wave of light cascading down onto the planet below, rapidly engulfing the surface in the spectacular gleam of morning sunlight. Nara couldn't help but let out a long, bewildered gasp. She didn't hear Winson get up, but suddenly he was next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It truly is a magnificent sight," Winson said, reeling in the View. Nara just nodded, and leaned her head against his shoulder. The two of them just stared out the window for what seemed like an eternity, until the ship's intercom suddenly came on. Nara could hear the smile behind Nova's voice as it emanated from speakers hidden in the ceiling.

"Goooood morning, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. If you look out the starboard side of the spacecraft, you'll see the morning sun rising over Dathomir. I don't know about you all, but I'll never get tired of a view like that. Anyway, if you all would kindly check out the top drawers of the dressers found in each of your rooms, you'll find a change of clothes, each carefully sized to fit each of you. Then, please proceed to meet me in the common living area, which can be found at the end of the hallway, as indicated by the blinking green arrows on the wall panels outside. Thank you for flying Xaris Starlines, and once again, welcome aboard the _Stormbreaker_."

Nova's announcement ended. Nara and Winson looked at each other for a moment, then walked over to the small, wooden dresser that sat up against the wall opposite the bed. When Nara opened the top drawer as instructed. Inside, she found, just as Nova had said she would, a clean change of clothes. For her, the drawer held a new pair of khaki-brown cargo pants, a light-purple t-shirt, and a new utility belt, complete with a holster for her Naboo blaster and a hook for her lightsaber to clip onto, which sat curled up atop the clothes, which were neatly folded in the bottom right corner of the drawer. Next to those sat a stack meant for Winson, which included a clean set of pants, a dark-green shirt similar to Nara's, and a dark-brown Jedi robe. Nara eyed the two stacks of folded clothes for a moment, various questions about their origins floating through her mind. Then she noticed that the robe in Winson's stack seemed to have something in its left pocket. Winson noticed it too, and reached his hand into the pocket. Suddenly, his eyes lit up with a look up curiosity and confusion. He pulled out a small, circular object, which gleamed and sparkled under the light of the room.

"Is that the watch?" Nara asked, confused. Winson nodded as he held it between them. Winson opened the watch slowly, still too stunned to speak. As soon as he opened it, a tiny holoprojector stuck on the inside cover activated, and a holographic message from Nova began playback on the watch's glass surface.

_To Nara and Winson,_ the message said, his image flickering from the low-definition feed from the projector.

_I did the best I could about the crack. I know this little timepiece means a lot to both of you, and I felt a need to help. But there's something special about this watch. This device has been infused with some form of energy. Something ancient that I can't identify. But I do know this: From what I can tell, this watch acts as a physical, tangible embodiment of your relationship. I'm not kidding. The crack in the glass didn't come from it being chucked against the wall, it came from the sudden drop in trust between you. When I managed to inspect it later, after you two had made up somewhat, the crack had shrunken, leaving no trace of it ever having been any larger. Your relationship is so strong that somehow, it's managed to work its way into a physical form, one which you now have to take good care of. I know that the two of you have a long history. That I can tell just by seeing the way you react. In fact, let me try and see if I can guess your whole story. Tell me if I'm wrong later. _

Nara and Winson looked at each other, confused, then back at the message. Holo-Nova began talking again.

_I'm guessing that, decades ago, Winson, you dropped out of the Jedi Academy. You weren't kicked out, you just realized that you wouldn't have been able to live up to all the expectations that the Jedi would've expected of you. Somewhere along the way, you met Nara's dad, Argos, and befriended him. You never told him about your force abilities, but you trained long and hard every day in the art of mind-based manipulation, both of yourself and of others. You mastered the Jedi Mind Trick better than anyone had ever before, and could manipulate even the strongest of minds in at least subtle ways. But Argos never found out, and he later entrusted you with a great task: the care of his youngest daughter. Now, Nara, I'm assuming you were raised more by Winson than by your biological parents, and that's tragic. But at the same time, I'd say that there were times when you felt completely alone, yet deep down you knew that Winson was still there. And Winson, you raised Nara as well as you could, and even went as far as to teach her early-level Force meditation techniques after you discovered her force-sensitivity. But you made a mistake: you didn't tell her you were force-sensitive. Argos? Yeah, don't tell him, obviously. But Nara? You should've at least hinted at it. So somehow, you revealed it to her under the wrong circumstances, and it caused a rift to open in your relationship. It's up to the two of you to seal that rift. The two of you developed a bond that goes beyond mere physical and emotional means. Your very spirits are bound, in a way that only years of constant friendship and companionship can create. I can feel it. But you have to take care of each other, because to shatter the bond now would be devastating for both of you, in ways that you could never imagine. And I would know. It happened to me once, a long time ago. And I'll be damned if I ever let anyone else go through that kind of pain ever again. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, you two need each other. Don't ever let anything get in the way of your friendship._

The message ended, and the hologram vanished. Nara looked up at Winson, and they both had tears in their eyes. Nara pulled Winson into a firm hug, which he returned. He leaned down and softly kissed her the top of her head.

* * *

Nova sat on one of many couches that surrounded the large holotable in the center of the common living area, his feet propped up against the arm of the sofa. He'd sent the intercom message a while ago, and still no one had shown up. Then, the door opened, and D'razz stepped through. The shape of the light in the lenses of his mask had changed slightly to where small sections at the top and bottom of both lenses were dark, to create a squint-like effect, made to look like he was smiling or laughing.

"You made t-shirts?" D'razz said, clearly trying to hold back laughter. Nova smiled back. D'razz's shirt was a soft shade of tannish-brown, with his name inscribed in slightly darker-colored thread by the left collarbone in cursive font. Beneath that, the name _Stormbreaker _was inscribed in silver letters, in the same unique font as it appeared on the ship's hull.

"Maybe," Nova said, smiling. They both started laughing. Nova patted the spot on the couch next to him, and D'razz walked over and sat down next to him with a pleasant sigh.

"I see the ocular expressive lens circuits have finally connected to your nervous system," Nova said.

"The ocular what?" D'razz said. But before Nova could respond, D'razz held up a hand, indicating him to wait.

"Wait," D'razz said, "I've got to get over this whole 'unable to understand technology' thing eventually, so let me try to guess what that means. You said 'ocular expressive lens circuits', right?" he said. Nova nodded, his smile slowly expressing more amazement, and pride.

"So," D'razz said, "'Ocular' means it has to do with eyes, right? And I know that 'expressive' is just another form of 'expression', like as in 'facial expression'. And 'lenses' are the pieces of clear or see-through material that cover glasses, or a mask," he said. Nova nodded again, urging him to continue.

"So," D'razz continued, "I noticed back in my room last night that the lenses on this thing glow, so I can only assume that 'ocular expressive lenses' has something to do with the light in the lenses changing to mimic facial expressions. Am I right?"

"Yes!" Nova shouted. "Exactly! That's exactly right, D'razz. Nice work!" Nova posted for a high-five, and D'razz returned it. The mask's lenses were reduced to thin, upside-down u-shapes. D'razz was beaming.

Rei walked in through the door at that moment.

"What's all the commotion?" she asked, an amused smile across her face. She too was wearing one of the custom t-shirts, except hers was a cream-white, with her name stitched in gold.

Nova's face lit up even further when she walked in.

"You're wearing the shirt!" Nova said.

"Well, yeah, of course!" Rei said. "It's a custom freaking t-shirt, made perfectly to my size, that looks really cool, and even says 'crew' on the back. Of course I'm going to wear it! And not just because I don't have any other shirts..."

Rei sat in one of the armchairs next to them and started laughing. Nova and D'razz joined in. Winson and Nara walked in, both wearing t-shirts just like the ones the others had. Nara's was a light shade of purple, and Winson's was a dark, forest green. Winson had his arm over Nara's shoulder, in a very fatherly sort of fashion. Nova could tell they'd seen the message, but didn't say anything. They both were smiling, and as the two of them plopped down on a couch on the opposite side of Nova from Rei, Nara spoke up.

"So, we're part of the crew now, huh?" she asked.

"Only if you guys want it," Nova said.

They all exchanged glances, each of them nodding slightly as their gazes went from person to person. Then, they all looked back at Nova.

"Yeah," Nara said, "We're in."


	22. Chapter 21: Team Building, Part I

**Chapter 21: Team Building, Part I**

"Well, then," Nova said, shifting his position on the couch, "I suppose that settles it then." Nova pressed a button on a console set within the arm of the couch. Suddenly, hidden compartments in the sides of the holotable opened up, and small, metal trays slid out on each side. On the trays sat tall, fancy-looking glasses, each of which contained a fizzy, pale-colored liquid. The group stared at them for a while, then at Nova.

"Umm, Nova?" Nara said, slowly, "You do know that we're, umm... that we're minors, right..?"

"Yeah, so?" Nova said, a smug grin on his face.

"So," Rei continued, equally slowly, "that means we can't have alcohol."

Nova just sat there, arms crossed, a wry grin across his face. His face indicated for one of them to pick up a glass. Nara shrugged and picked up the one in front of her.

As soon as she took a sip, she immediately began to giggle. Then it turned to laughter. Nova chuckled with her. Nara looked up at the group and spoke.

"It's not alcohol," she said, grinning, "it's sparkling Muja cider."

The others laughed and picked up the glasses, tossing them back in cheer. D'razz stood up and gave a toast.

"To us, the great _Stormbreaker _crew!_"_

"_Here, here!" _the others cheered_. _

When the laughter had subsided, Nova looked at the group of people that sat before him.

"You guys know what it's time for, right?"

They all looked at him inquisitively.

"Team-building exercises!"

The room was filled by a mixture of groans and cheers.

Nova beckoned them all into the lift, which took them down to the large training arena towards the rear of the ship. When the doors opened, the group saw a huge pile of mismatched parts and components sitting in the center of the room.

"Exercise number one," Nova said, gesturing for the rest to enter the room, "is quite simple, yet not at the same time."

"What are these parts for?" D'razz asked.

"That's your challenge. Build something."

"What do we build?" Rei asked.

"That..." Nova said,

"...Is up to you."


	23. Chapter 22: Team Building, Part II

**Chapter 22: Team Building, Part II**

The crew stared at the pile for what seemed like an age. Blank expressions and wide eyes were spread across all their faces, all except for Nova, who leaned casually against a wall, a sly grin across his face.

Then, D'razz's face lit up. Literally, the glow in his lenses-which had been reduced to tiny dots to indicate amazement-expanded.

"I've got an idea…" D'razz said, slowly. He gestured for the group to huddle in a circle. Nova stood up straighter and watched from afar as the team began brainstorming.

"Whatcha got, D'razz?" Nara asked, an excited look on her face.

"We build..," he continued, "A repulsorlift drive."

"A what?" Rei asked. "Do you even know how complicated those things are?"

"Well, new ones, yeah," D'razz responded, "But back home I had this ancient little landspeeder. I'd have to perform all sorts of maintenance on it constantly using some rudimentary tools and whatever scrap I had in my barn. And believe me, there are more parts and pieces in this pile alone than there were in the whole of my old landspeeder's entire propulsion drive, much less the repulsorlifts themselves."

"Well then," Winson said, breaking the silence that followed, "It sounds like we have a plan."

* * *

The crew worked for the next several hours, D'razz instructing the others on what parts went where, where to place various power cells, etc. Nova sat meditating in the corner while the group worked. Over the course of the next few hours, what had previously been a mere pile of cables, power cells, and scrap metal started to take shape. And just as Nova started to doze off, D'razz cried out triumphantly.

"We're finished!" he shouted, to which the others cheered.

Nova shook the sleepiness out of his brain and stood up. Walking over to them, he tried to get a look at what they had constructed. But just before he got a look, Nara and Winson pulled a tarp over it, obscuring their contraption.

"So, what'd you guys build?" Nova asked as he approached, an inquisitive smile on his face.

"Behold…." D'razz said, grabbing a corner of the tarp. The others followed suit, and together they pulled off the tarp. Beneath it sat a small, rectangular device, which strongly resembled a backup power generator. It had an ignition lever on one side, and various power indicators were lined up next to it. A long, thick bundle of cables emerged from one side of the machine, and sat coiled up next to it. At the end of the cable sat a small, metallic sphere, which gleamed under the light of the chamber.

"It's a… backup generator?" Nova asked, a confused expression on his face.

"Nope, better," Nara said, and pulled the lever on the front.

The machine spluttered for a moment, coughed once, and died.

Nara frowned. She pulled the lever again, and the same thing occurred. She swore under her breath. Nova had a hand to his face, clearly holding back laughter. Nara shot a glare at him, then continued to pull the starter lever, to no avail.

"Nara, pull the choke lever," D'razz said, pointing to a small, circular pull handle, which Nara pulled. She pulled the lever again, and the machine spluttered, coughed, and screeched into life with a sound like a dying banshee. And as everyone in the room covered their ears, the machine finally settled down, and the screeching subsided. And with a flurry of sparks, the sphere that was attached to it suddenly shifted, shuddered, and finally rose into the air, slowly uncoiling the long bundle of cables as it went. The sphere continued to rise until the long bundle of cables had been fully stretched out, at which point the sphere came to rest, suspended nearly 30 feet above the floor of the 50-foot decagonal chamber.

Nova stared upward in awe, his mouth open as he let out a long, pleasantly-surprised gasp.

"It's a repulsorlift generator!" he said, his grin stretching ear to ear.

"And that's not all," Rei chimed in. Nova looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"The sphere? It doesn't have any special components in it. It's literally just a metal sphere, nothing more."

Nova's face shifted to a look of bewildered disbelief.

"Wait, so that means-"

He cut himself short, and looked back up at the sphere, his eyes widening.

"The energy the generator produces is enough to hold the sphere up by its metallic conductivity alone," D'razz added. "It's just a little side effect that we encountered from the way we constructed it," he said, shrugging like it was no big deal.

Nova stared at him, mouth gaping open in disbelief. When he finally caught himself, he spoke to D'razz.

"That's... That's genius, D'razz!" he said.

The glowing, tattoo-like accents in his mask changed colors, turning bright pink. He was blushing.

Nova studied the device for several moments, then finally looked down at the crew.

"Congratulations, you guys. You did a damn good job. I'd say that you're finally ready."

"Ready?" Nara said. "Ready for what?"

"Well..." Nova began, that same smug grin reappearing on his face. He paused a moment.

"Ready to take on the Empire."


	24. Chapter 23: Decryption

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **

Hey, guys. I just wanted to say that I'm so sorry about the problems that kept happening with the portraits and the links, and I'll make sure to work out ahead of time how to properly do it should I try something like that in the future. I also apologize for the delay between updates; as the story goes on it gets harder and harder to come up with good stuff! But again, thank you so much to all of you that have stuck with the story, you guys are the best and I love the continued support you give me! Thanks, and enjoy the new chapter!

~DoctorPortal

**Chapter 23: Decryption**

Rei had expected the decryption process on the disk she's retrieved to take a long time. She wasn't disappointed.

Nova stood hunched over the large holotable in the common living area, the others surrounding him. His fingers were moving wildly as he typed at a holographic keyboard that was projected on the table's surface. Projected in front of him was a large, three-dimensional mesh of lines, nodes, and numbers, which were arranged into a large, tangled web, which Nova was working furiously to unravel. His face was one of pure determination, and his lips were pursed together in frustration. His forehead was beaded with sweat, and the others could only watch.

Nova swore repeatedly under his breath.

"Dammit!" he cried, slamming his fist against the console. He stood up, and collapsed backwards onto the couch behind him. He was breathing heavily.

"I... I just can't beat it..." he said, trying to catch his breath. "Every time I start to make progress on one section, that damn algorithm changes the encryption entirely, leaving me back at square one!" Nova gestured wildly with his hands, then leaned against the arm of the couch, his left hand up against the side of his face. He sighed.

"Why don't you let me try?" Rei asked, the hints of a sly smile creeping at the corners of her mouth. Nova just stared at her as she stepped over to the console, cracked her knuckles, and went to work on the display.

Rei's fingers were flying even faster than Nova's had been. She was beating the encryption, and she wasn't even breaking a sweat. The group started chanting her name as the encryption web unraveled further and further, until the display went completely green, and the words "access granted" appeared in white on the holographic display in front of her. The others exclaimed loudly as she gave a Nova a sly smile, and gestured for him to take over. Begrudgingly, and still slightly baffled, Nova stood back up and approached the console.

"N... Nice work, Rei..." he said, his shock made apparent in his voice. She only smiled, and sat back down on the couch behind her.

Suddenly, the holotable chimed, and suddenly a massive group of file folders and documents was displayed, suspended in midair above the holotable. The files included all sorts of top-secret details regarding Project Quasar. Nova reached up and tapped a file labeled "bases/headquarters" with his index finger. The folder enlarged to fill the space, displaying all its various documents. Nova selected a file labeled "factories", and a large, detailed map of the galaxy appeared, showing the locations of the project's three main headquarters, as well as the major munitions plants, research centers, and manufacturing plants that were vital to the project. Nova pinched one area of the map with his right thumb and forefinger, and spread them apart, causing the display to zoom in on a planet located a not far from Dathomir, where they were now.

"There," Nova said, pointing, "That's our first target: a small, secret manufacturing plant on the surface of Dantooine..."

* * *

The team gathered in a small room adjacent to the training arena. A series of lockers and racks lined the room, each housing a different type of advanced-looking weapon. Nova himself picked up a small, bulky-looking blaster pistol off one rack and attached it to a small clip on his belt. Nara picked up a pack of ammo cartridges for her Naboo blaster, and strapped them to her belt. Winson went for a small, old-fashioned revolver which leaned against a far wall, and clipped it to his belt next to his lightsaber. Rei browsed the stash for a while, then selected a pair of small, rapid-fire blasters, which she attached to a utility belt that she strapped across her waist. D'razz made a beeline for an highly-modified crossbow, and selected from a large stash of various types of high explosives, from sticky grenades to timed charges. He then slipped on an over-the-shoulder sling, which easily held all the armaments he had selected. As he was slipping the crossbow onto the clamp across his back, a signal sent out by the sling caused a small rod-like device to fly over to him and latch itself magnetically to his waist. It was metallic black, had a small, rotary dial on the thumb rest, and had a small, glowing button on the top, which pulsed slowly green. Nova saw the armament D'razz was equipping and rushed over cautiously.

"Are you sure you know how to use all that?" Nova asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, sure." D'razz said. "I've been training myself for years how to use explosives like these, and this crossbow is the kind of thing I've known how to use since I was little. But I'm not familiar with this thing..," he gestured to the ergonomic device that had attached itself to him.

"That," Nova said, "is a multi-use detonator, capable of working on up to 5 channels, which you can switch between at any time using that rotary dial there. And I think you can figure out what the big glowing one up top is for." D'razz nodded, and Nova left him.

After everyone had finished arming themselves, Nova addressed them, standing atop a small table in the center of the room.

"Everyone got what they wanted?" he asked, to a response of approving murmurs. "Good," he said, "Then if you'll follow me to the bridge, we can get this ship a-moving!"

The others cheered and followed Nova into the lift, which took them all to the bridge. Nova walked over to the pilot's chair, and strapped in. The others followed suit, strapping into the chairs that they'd been in earlier. Nova started tapping various controls and checking various dials.

"Alright, guys, hold onto something," Nova said, slowly pushing forward on a large, chromium throttle lever to his left.

The _Stormbreaker_ whined as her engines spooled up, then the stars streaked into long, white bands as the ship finally freed itself of the bonds of planetary orbit and flew into the welcoming arms of hyperspace.


	25. Chapter 24: Infiltrate, Part I

**Authors Note:**

Hey, guys! Sorry about the huge delay between chapters. We've been having foundation work done on my house, and my GOD is it hard trying to write when guys are using JACKHAMMERS IN YOUR LIVING ROOM! Seriously, though, I do apoligize for the delay, and thanks again for all the support you all have given me! I really love you guys, you're the freaking best, and I hope you enjoy Chapter 24!

~DoctorPortal

**Chapter 24: Infiltrate, Part I**

"Okay," Nara said, "what's the plan?"

Nova responded without looking away from the controls.

"Well," he said, "I'm not completely sure. I've got an idea of what we're supposed to do, but I haven't quite determined the execution of it yet."

Nara sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, what's the _idea_, then?"

Nova cast her a withering glance, then faced back to the swirling blue tunnel ahead of them.

"The idea is fairly simple," Nova said. "This is a stealth operation. We divide into two teams: Intel Team and Demo Team. Intel Team's job is to sneak into their information center and download as much as you can without getting spotted. Meanwhile, Demo Team will be placing high-explosive charges around strategic structural points around the compound. That way, if all goes as planned, we'll go in, get the data, and light the place up on the way out."

"And how exactly do we do all that?" Rei asked.

"Hold on, wait for it," Nova said, his face twisting in thought. Suddenly, his face lit up and he bolt upright.

"Alright. I have a plan, but it may be slightly risky…."

* * *

"Land?!" D'razz asked. His face shared the same blank, bewildered expression with the others. "What do you mean, land the _Stormbreaker_?"

"Well, just that, actually," Nova said. "None of the ships down in the hangar bay will work. The _Epsilon_ has a chromium-plated hull, which would be seen a hundred miles away with the kind of surveillance they've got. And Rei's little Imperial Fighter would work, except for the fact that it only seats two people. Plus, the _Stormbreaker_ has the whole ultra high-tech Xentium-crystal cloaking-device-thingamajig, which means we should be able to land a short ways away without incident. But like I said before, it wouldn't be without its risks."

"Such as?" Nara inquired.

"Well," Nova began, "first there's reliability. The cloak is made up of some highly-experimental stuff, all of which is prone to malfunction. We could end up flying down there, and have splotches of the hull visible, whilst other parts wouldn't be. And that'd be even more suspicious than the whole ship going uncloaked. Then, there's the fact that other than on the day it was built, the landing gear on this bucket have never had any proper testing. I built the thing with landing gear really just for use in an emergency, since I'd never planned on making a habit out of trying to land something this big. And then-"

Nara cut him off. "Okay, look. I dunno about you guys, this sounds way too dangerous to me."

"But Nara," Rei added, "Nova's right. This is our best option. As strange as this may sound, this way has a much higher chance of succeeding than any of the other options. I suggest we make some final preparations, and go through with it."

Nara sighed, and gave in. "Okay, let's do it," she said.

* * *

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," Nova said, "The seatbelt sign has been turned on, so please make your way back to your seats and get strapped in. We are now approaching Dantooine, where the weather is 67° with a light breeze, and the local time is 11:30." Nova began flipping various overhead switches and the cabin lights dimmed, to where the lights from the consoles were the only things illuminating the bridge. Nara and the others strapped back in, and Nova reached out and pulled back slowly on the large throttle handle to his left. The swirling blue hyperspace tunnel emptied out back into long, white streaks, which in turn reformed back into individual stars. The planet of Dantooine zoomed into view, until it was an all-consuming presence in the view out the ship's forward viewports.

"Here we go," Nova said, softly. He pitched forward slightly on the large control yoke in front of him, and the ship began to enter the atmosphere.

Flames licked at the nose of the ship as it dove into Dantooine's upper atmosphere. The _Stormbreaker_ was plunging towards the planet's surface at an alarming rate.

"Think you might wanna slow down some?!" Nara cried as she and the rest of the team were pressed back into their seats as the g-forces put on them increased with each second.

The surface of Dantooine closed in, and just as it seemed that impact was at hand, Nova thrust the throttle on his left all the way forward and pulled back as hard as he could on the control yoke. The ship groaned as the repulsorlift engines ignited and went to maximum power all within the space of two seconds, and the ship leveled out, its downward speed dropping dramatically until it came to rest only about 20 meters from the ground. Nova pressed a button on his console, and loud whirring sounds emanated from the ship's underbelly, followed by a loud clunk. Nova gently lowered the ship until the ship's weight came slowly to rest on the large, curved landing struts than had extended from its underside.

"And that," Nova said, turning to face the group, "Is what I like to call a High-Altitude-Low-Elevation-Ignition Drop, or 'HALEY' Drop, for short. What'd you guys think?"

His question was met with heavy, nervous breathing, and a few annoyed glances from the crew. Finally Nara spoke up.

"God dammit, Nova…," she breathed.


	26. Chapter 25: Infiltrate, Part II

**Chapter 25: Infiltrate, Part II**

The team gathered in the hallway down low in the ship adjacent to the hangar bay.

Nara and D'razz had elected to be Demo Team. Winson and Rei had agreed to be Intel Team. All was in place, except for one crucial thing.

"What about you, Nova?" D'razz asked. "Which team are you going with?"

"Neither," Nova said. "I've got... other matters to attend to."

Winson gave Nova an inquisitive glance. Nova shot him a "not now" look. Nova quickly changed the subject.

"Everyone got all they need?" he asked.

"Think so," D'razz said. "I've got enough explosives here to punch a 2-meter hole in the armor in an AT-AT."

"And I've got a lightsaber that's just begging to see some battle," Nara said.

Nova nodded, and reached over to a small wall panel to his right. He punched in a code, and suddenly, three large, glowing seams appeared in the floor in front of them. Then, the floor lowered downwards and extended out to the surface of Dantooine. Nova gestured to D'razz to lead the way, and the group made their way down the large gangway that had extended from the ship's belly.

As soon as they cleared the ramp, D'razz turned to look at the ship they'd just disembarked from.

"Whoa..." he breathed. The others turned to see what he was staring at.

The ship's cloaking tech was no joke. Before them stood the boarding ramp, which led to the inside of the ship. But on all other sides of the ramp, the ship was completely and utterly invisible, albeit for a faint blue, heat-like shimmer, which rippled through the ship's outline at random intervals. It appeared as though the ramp led up into nothingness.

The others marveled at it for a moment, until Nova reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small, oval-shaped device. A few small, holographic buttons appeared above the device, and Nova pressed one of them. The boarding ramp began to retract, accompanied by a mechanical whirring. When it had closed completely, there was nothing left to see. Nova smiled to himself, then placed the device back in his pocket. He called for the others to follow him.

"Come on, guys," Nova said. "It's a bit of a walk, and nighttime doesn't last indefinitely."

* * *

The walk seemed to stretch forever, but finally the group arrived at the fence to the grounds of the biggest factory complex any of them had ever seen.

"I thought you said this was a small outpost," Nara said.

"I... I thought it was," Nova replied.

Nova suddenly perked up, and pulled the elliptical remote out again. He pressed a different button, and pointed the device at each of them. As he did, everyone's clothes shimmered, then changed colors, becoming pitch black.

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" Nara whispered harshly. "What else do these things do that you haven't told us about?"

Nova only shrugged and attempted to give her an innocent-looking smile. It didn't work.

"Alright, guys. Let's do this," Nova said. And with that, the group split, running in their teams in different directions.

* * *

As soon as Winson and Rei hopped the fence, the two of them were like a well-oiled machine, exchanging various military hand signals, which both had learned in their brief times at the Imperial Academy. Soon, they had their plan worked out, and began sneaking through the maze of storage containers that had been right by where they'd gotten in. Leaping from container to container, the two of them soon made their way to one of the doors to the control tower. The intelligence center was on the 7th floor. Rei rushed over and ripped off an access panel next to the door. To her surprise, instead of a computer terminal, she found a bunch of wires and cables.

"I... I don't know how to work this!" she whispered to Winson, who moved over to see what she'd found. His face lit up when he saw the wires.

"Hotwiring. Excellent," Winson said. "Rei, you cover me. I've got this," he said.

Rei stood watch as Winson disconnected and rearranged the wires and cables until a soft click was heard from the door mechanism.

"Gotcha!" Winson whispered. The door slid slowly open, stopping at its halfway point. Just enough for them to squeeze through. Winson replaced the wall panel, and the two entered the tower. They approached the corner, and Winson gestured for them to stop. He closed his eyes, and tilted his head, seemingly listening. Then he opened his eyes again, and pointed down one of the hallways. They moved further, until they reached a lift. They climbed in, and selected the 7th floor. The lift began to rise.

"Get ready," Winson said, "I sense two on the far left, three in the center, and two more on the far right. Get ready to take them out all at once."

Rei simply nodded, and drew her dual blasters.

As soon as the door opened, the officers in the tower spun to face the intruders, only to be stuck down mid-draw.

"Nice one," Winson said. Rei smiled, and blew away the smoke from the tips of her blasters.

Winson and Rei approached two separate terminals, and began downloading information to the two data sticks that Nova had provided them with.

And then, just as the progress bars reached 100%, the alarms went off.

* * *

_Four minutes earlier..._

Nara and D'razz had memorized the plan. D'razz had downloaded the structural schematics of the factory to his mask, which apparently, D'razz had discovered, had a great deal of tactical uses. With the schematics downloaded, D'razz's mask could analyze any part of the building he looked at, and calculate the exact spot he should place an explosive in order to maximize damage. So far, they'd only placed four charges, and already his readout predicted 86% destruction. He and Nara scaled the building, carefully sneaking from cover spot to cover spot, then Nara would stand guard while D'razz placed each charge. They were approaching the 5th spot when Nara suddenly had a brief barrage of images flash through her mind, and she yanked D'razz by his collar into an alleyway.

"Hey, what was that f-" D'razz protested, but Nara put a hand to his face. She pointed to where they'd just been, right as a searchlight passed over it.

"How did you know?" D'razz whispered.

"I dunno. I think it was some kind of Force-vision. Never mind, it doesn't matter. Let's keep going," she said, and the two of them rounded the corner to the charge point. Nara watched the guard tower carefully while D'razz placed the charge. She noticed the searchlight heading back towards them.

"D'razz, hurry up..." She whispered.

"Nearly there..," he said.

"There," he said. "Let's g-"

Suddenly, the alarms started blaring, and the searchlight stopped dead in its tracks. It hasn't reached them, which meant that something else had triggered the alarms...

"What happened?!" D'razz said, his voice nearly drowned in the blaring klaxons.

"I don't know!" Nara said. "The searchlight hadn't reached us!" Suddenly, her head cleared, and she remembered the mission.

"D'razz! What does the percent readout say?!"

D'razz stammered for a moment, then responded.

"Uhh... 97%! Is that enough?!" he said.

"It'll have to be!" Nara said. "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

D'razz stood, and the two of them sprinted for the gates that sat a short ways away. Imperial officers appeared ahead of the and opened fire. Nara ran ahead of D'razz, drew her lightsaber, and began deflecting shots left and right, running straight for the line of troopers. She sliced and slashed, and suddenly all the troopers lay on the ground. They all appeared to be alive, but they didn't have time to make sure.

"Did you just kill them?!" D'razz shouted.

"I dunno! I doubt it, but let's worry about living first!" Nara replied.

The gates ahead of them were sliding shut. Suddenly, Winson and Rei appeared to their left, and the two pairs met in the middle, and sprinted for the gates. Rei went through first, followed by Winson, then Nara, and D'razz slipped through just as the giant doors clamped shut.

"Where's Nova?!" Rei cried, as the group continued running.

"Over here!" Nova said, appearing next to them, as if from nowhere.

"Whoa! Where'd you come from?!" Nara shouted.

"Like I said, had stuff to do!" Nova replied. "D'razz! What are you doing?! Light the place up!" he shouted.

D'razz got a look of surprise, and reached for the detonator he'd had on his hip.

It was gone.

"Where's the detonator?!" D'razz screamed. "I just had it!"

Nova threw something at him, and D'razz stumbled to catch it. It was the detonator. D'razz stumbled to a halt. The rest of the group followed suit. They all tried to catch their breath. They'd been running a long time.

"W-wha..." D'razz stammered. "Where was it?" he asked.

"On the ground near the third charge. Go ahead. Blow it before they get a chance to disarm them," Nova said.

D'razz squeezed the glowing button, and behind them a massive explosion shook and rattled the landscape. Pieces of metal, debris, and trooper armor were thrown in every direction. The group all had to shield their eyes from the light of the blast.

When the light died, Nova turned to face the team.

"Nice work, you guys," he said, "that was some seriously good work."

The team resumed the trek back to the _Stormbreaker_ slowly and calmly. Shortly before they got to where they'd left it, however, they realized a problem.

"Umm..." Nova said, "Anyone remember where we parked?"


	27. Chapter 26: Debrief, Part I

**Author's Note:**

Hey, guys! Sorry about the unfortunate lack of action in the last chapter. But, on the bright side, I'm posting two chapters today instead of just one! I know this one's a bit short. I'd meant to tack this on to the end of the last chapter, but that one was already long the way it was, and I guess I didn't think to do it. Nevertheless, I do hope you enjoy Chapter 26 of my story, and thanks again for all the support you've given me!

~DoctorPortal

* * *

**Chapter 26: Debrief, Part I**

"You've got to be joking, Nova..." Nara said. Winson was facepalming something fierce, and Rei was having to cover up her face to hide how hard she was laughing.

"I wish…," Nova said, wildly scanning the horizon.

"Nova, we've been looking for two hours…" Rei said.

"I know, I know…" Nova replied, sullenly.

"Can you not, like, deactivate the cloak remotely?" D'razz asked. "You had that little remote thing earlier. Will that not work?" he asked.

"Nope," Nova said. "The cloak is made possible by the pieces of Xentium crystal infused in the ship's hull. When Nova Sphere energy is directed through it, it energizes the crystals, which creates the light-bending effect that renders the ship invisible. And by design, there's Nova Sphere energy circulating through the hull whenever the ship's engines are ignited, and the effect can only be disabled on the bridge. And plus, I left the engines running."

"God dammit, Nova…" Nara said, facepalming.

Looking over his shoulder, Nova said, "I'm sure it's around here somewhere," then, facing forwards, he strode purposefully ahead... smacking face-first into the forward landing gear. Both Nara and D'razz looked up, shocked at how much the clang reverberated throughout the ship's hull. Then, without a word to each other, they walked over to help Nova back to his feet.

Looking from a few steps away, Winson couldn't help but notice how the rest of them - feeling their way along the hull, arms outstretched - resembled a bunch of younglings who had walked through some cobwebs.

Still leaning against Nara and D'razz for support, an incredibly-dazed Nova reached into his pocket and pulled out the remote. He pressed the button on it, and slowly but surely the ramp lowered, revealing itself and the ship. Then, finally standing up and releasing himself from Nara and D'razz's grip, Nova stumbled over to the ramp, just in time to be clonked on the head with just enough force to topple him to the ground. Rei couldn't hold it in any further and collapsed to the ground with laughter. Winson chuckled along with her, and soon Nara and D'razz joined in as well. When Nova finally came to, they stood over him, still laughing. He couldn't help but join.

* * *

Back on board the _Stormbreaker_, the team gathered in the common living area for debriefing.

"Seriously, guys," Nova said, "that was some really impressive work you all did out there."

The members of the team talked in turns, describing their perspectives on the events of the evening. Nova sat and listened as each of them told their story, then stood up off his chair. He approached the holotable, and recalled the Project Quasar folder.

"You guys ready for the next target?" Nova asked.

The others only nodded.

"Alright, then. Let's see what we've got…" Nova said.

"But Nova," Rei interrupted, "there's still one thing left unanswered."

"Oh?" Nova asked, secretly dreading the question he'd been anticipating.

"What were you doing back there?" Rei asked.

"Ah, well…." Nova started, then looked down. He reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out a small, triangular pyramid. The object was pitch black, seemingly absorbing light from around it, albeit for a small design that donned each side, etched in glowing red accents. Winson reeled back when he saw it, and Nara shuddered at the sight of it. The object radiated pure dark force energy.

"Wha… what is that…?" Winson asked cautiously. 'Where did you get it..?"

"This, well, it-," Nova stammered, an unfamiliar and deep-rooted sadness in his eyes.

"This… belonged to my brother."


	28. Chapter 27: Corruption, Part I

**Chapter 27: Corruption, Part I**

The news has rattled all of them. None of them had ever known much about Nova, and Nara was determined to put an end to their ignorance.

The team sat in silence on the bridge as Nova prepared the ship for take-off. Nara looked over at Nova. As frustrated as she was at how deep in the dark they all were about him, she was also deeply worried about him. Something about that prism had awakened something from his past, something he'd been trying to forget for a long time. And she hated seeing him like this; his eyes were glazed over. They looked old. Ancient. As if they'd seen enough pain and anguish to fill multiple lifetimes. He was silent. Painfully silent. Nara could even see tears forming at the corners of his eyes, and that he was trying everything to hold them back.

Once the ship cleared orbit, Nova flipped a few switches and pressed a button, and unstrapped his harness. Behind him, the steering yoke and throttle levers retracted into their hidden panels, and the words "Auto-Pilot Engaged" appeared on all their screens. Nova silently walked to the lift.

"Nova, wai-" Nara began, but she was too late.

"Come on, guys," she said to the others, beckoning.

"He needs us. Whether he admits it or not, he does. We're his crew now, remember? And right now, our captain is in need."

Without protest, the others unstrapped and followed Nara into the lift. The ship, in its wisdom, took them right to the threshold of Nova's quarters. Just before Nara could knock, the door slid open automatically.

Nova was kneeling next to his bed, holding a small, glowing cube in his hands.

When he saw the light from the corridor, he turned further away from them.

"Go. I need to be alone right now," Nova said.

"On the contrary," a mysterious voice said, as if from nowhere. The cube in Nova's hands rose into the air, rotated to where a large, circular orb in its center was facing the group, and lit up.

Projected before them all stood the holographic form of Master Khorisa.

"I'd say you need them more than ever," he said.

* * *

Winson went straight to his knees, kneeling before the hologram. The others quickly followed his example.

"Please," Khorisa said. "There is no need for that. Rise, young ones."

They all stood. Khorisa smiled, then looked down at Nova, who still sat on his knees. His eyes widened with worry when he saw that Nova's eyes were glazed over so thoroughly that it looked as though he'd fallen asleep with them open. Khorisa looked back at the group. His hologram moved, positioning itself so the master placed his hand on Nova's back. Nova was shuddering.

Suddenly, without warning, he toppled over, twitching slightly. His eyes were clenched shut, and he appeared to be in extreme pain.

"Quickly," Khorisa said, "We haven't much time."

"What's happenning to him?" Rei asked.

"His mind is being influenced by the dark side. I knew this would happen. He was not ready for the cleansing! We needed more people! We needed-"

Khorisa cut himself off and looked at Winson.

"Master Winson," he said.

Winson looked up. "Yes, master?"

"Come. place your hand on the holocron. I have a task which only you can complete," the master said. "Now, the rest of you, join hands. Form a circle around Nova. We have one chance to save him before his spirit is corrupted, and we are running out of time."

The team did as instructed. Winson suddenly had a determined look in his eye after having touched the holocron. He joined hands with Nara, completing the circle, then leaned down and placed his other hand across Nova's left temple. He closed his eyes and took a breath.

Suddenly, Khorisa's image disappeared, and the holocron floated over to the center of the circle, directly above Nova. Then, in a great flash of light, the holocron channeled a burst of energy through the group, going from person to person, then ending at Nova.

* * *

The whole group, Khorisa included, stood in a vast, empty field. Tall grasses and trees dotted the landscape, with sunshine and clear blue skies behind it. But over the horizon, massive, dark clouds were swirling, and they were expanding. Getting closer.

"Come," Khorisa said, "this way."

The others walked along until they found a small, shallow pond. It was only ankle deep, and in the center stood Nova. when he turned and saw them, his face became a look of horror.

"No, guys, wha…," he started, then he saw Khorisa. "Master? What are you doing?! Get them out of here! It's too dangerous! Get them out of he-"

Before he could finish, a set of vast, dark shapes appeared all around him and pulled him under the surface of the water. He was gone.

The landscape around the group swirled and changed, resolving into a large battlefield. Suddenly, Nara recognized one of the troopers standing a short ways away.

"There! Look, guys! There he is!" She pointed, an sure enough, a much-younger Nova stood with a large blaster rifle in his hand, standing back to back with another young man, who had sandy brown hair, a golden-yellow jacket similar to Nova's, and vibrant lime green eyes.

"Who is that?" D'razz asked.

"Right now," Khorisa replied, "we are flashing through the darkest of Nova's memories. And that is his darkest memory of all. That is Daniel, Nova's brother."


	29. Chapter 28: Corruption, Part II

**Author's Note:**

Hey, guys! I think that you all are _really_ going to enjoy this one! This is where I finally dump out all of Nova's long and complicated backstory, and it's easily the longest chapter I've ever written! I have a really good feeling about this one, and I hope you all enjoy chapter 28 of Stormbreaker! Thanks again for all the support you all have given me!

~DoctorPortal

* * *

**Chapter 28: Corruption, Part II**

"Master Khorisa," Winson said, "do you mean to say that we are currently in Nova's mind?"

"Well," Khorisa replied, "a three-dimensional representation of it, yes. And before you ask any more questions, we must move forward. Nova himself is to be found somewhere here, and we have limited time if we are to save him from corruption."

"Corruption?" Nara asked. "Master, what exactly are we doing here?"

"We have been transported into a physical representation of Nova's memories, all within the realm that dwells within my holocron. We have to make our way through the darkest of Nova's memories before we will find the Jedi himself, which we must do before his spirit is consumed by the dark side."

"His memories?" Rei asked. "What happened in Nova's past that could be causing all this?"

"Well…," Khorisa began, "Allow me to show you."

Khorisa waved his hand in a slow arc in front of him, and the scenery around them changed, shifting, warping, and distorting, until the team found themselves in a large medical-looking chamber, which had the unique, sterile-white look of a Kaminoan facility.

"This, Khorisa said, is the headquarters of _Project Stormbreaker_."

"_Project_ Stormbreaker?" D'razz asked. "Like, not the ship, then?"

"Correct," Khorisa replied. "_Project Stormbreaker_ was a top-secret initiative created by the Kaminoans, whose purpose was to artificially create a select number of archetypes that represented the 'ultimate Jedi'."

As Khorisa spoke, the world around the group continued to change, always so that it reflected what the Jedi Master was saying.

"The plan was fairly simple; introduce them two at a time, and raise each pair together. That way, they would learn teamwork, the value of friendship, and so on. Then, once a pair reached the age of 12, the next pair would be introduced. The beings themselves were to be of all manner of species, yet each one was genetically-engineered from scratch. The archetypes that were chosen to be represented were each condensed down into a single, one-word characteristic, around which each Jedi's personality would be designed. Nova and Daniel were the first two to be created. Nova was made to represent 'ingenuity', while Daniel was to represent 'tenacity". Nova and Daniel grew up to be the best of friends, and reached the age of 12 without incident. However…."

The scene changed to a small, dimly-lit examination table, where multiple Kaminoan scientists surrounded a small, sandy-haired boy, who was spasming and writhing around, seemingly in distress. Khorisa continued.

"Something went wrong. Something in Daniel's genetic code went awry, and Daniel was isolated from Nova, and experimented on mercilessly. All the while, Nova watched in horror from the air vents." The scenery changed so that the air ducts against the far wall showed a cutaway view, and sure enough, a 12-year-old Nova watched in horror.

"Good god…" Nara breathed.

The scene changed again. It showed Nova, now 14 years old, strapping into the pilot seat of a lone Kaminoan shuttlecraft, and taking off. Tears streamed down the boy's face, and his eyes were red and puffy.

"Nova fled Kamino," Khorisa continued, "and ended up on Tython, the home planet of the Jedi." The scenery changed to a beautiful, grassy field, just like the one they'd seen before.

"There," Khorisa resumed, "he found the Temple of the Ancients, a vast temple located deep beneath the surface of Tython, which had been sealed for thousands of years. There, he found my holocron, and I took it upon myself to train him in the ways of the Jedi of old."

The scene showed Nova and Khorisa training in various types of forms; force-manipulation, lightsaber techniques, etc. Then the two of them bowed, and the scene changed again.

"I thought I'd succeeded," Khorisa said. "So had he, as it happened."

The scene changed again to Nova, now much nearer to the age they knew him, Sealing the door to the underground temple.

"He left my holocron behind and ventured back out into the world. It was shortly thereafter…. that he reunited with Daniel."

The scene flashed back to a 12-year-old Daniel looking out of a window, watching Nova leave in the shuttle they'd seen earlier. His eyes narrowed, and a look of pure hatred swept across the boy's face.

"Daniel held it against Nova that he'd left those many years ago, feeling that in doing so, Nova had abandoned him, leaving him for dead with the scientists. These feelings of abandonment, coupled with the constant, torturous testing, and the glitches in his genetic code acted to corrupt Daniel, who resorted to embrace the Dark Side of the Force.

The scene shifted to the same examination room, but now completely destroyed. Daniel stood in the center, both arms outstretched, his eyes looking between the two scientists he held aloft in a force choke position. The other scientists lay dead or dying, scattered across the room. Daniel's face was one of pure anger and hate, and his eyes glowed red with dark Force energy.

"Daniel resorted to destroy the project that had held him hostage, killing everyone in it first, then sinking the vast facility into Kamino's oceans."

The scene changed and the group watched from a distance as different areas around the gigantic headquarters exploded, after which the struts holding it above the water buckled and collapsed, and the entire complex tumbled into the ocean. Then the scene changed to Nova and Daniel standing on the surface of Tython, lightsabers drawn, both in attack-ready stances. Khorisa resumed the story.

"The two of them arranged to have one final duel, in which they would fight until one or both of them lay dead on the ground."

The crew watched as the two of them dueled ruthlessly in a flurry of red and blue lightsaber slashes.

"The duel lasted for four consecutive days," Khorisa continued, "in which the fighting remained constant throughout. And at the the end…," Khorisa said, as the scene changed to Nova and Daniel fighting at the edge of an enormous cliff, one which overlooked a gigantic valley. Suddenly, Nova lunged at his brother, making a final thrust with his lightsaber, and the blade went straight through Daniel's center. The Sith master looked down slowly, then back up at Nova. Nova deactivated his blade and stood up as Daniel's body went limp and tumbled over the ledge.

"Oh, god…." Rei breathed.

Suddenly, their surroundings changed, the memory dissolving into smoke and blowing away. The crew found themselves in a vast, milky expanse, and before them, laying on his side, eyes clenched shut, was Nova. The group rushed over to him.

"Nova, are you okay?" Nara asked, kneeling down next to him. The Jedi stirred, then slowly opened his eyes. For a moment, his irises glowed bright red, but upon seeing them, he blinked, and his eyes returned to the bright, pale blue that Nara recognized.

"H..hey, Nara," Nova wheezed. He tried to sit up, but fell backward, wincing.

"It is good to see you, young one," Khorisa said. He leaned down, his arm outstretched. Nova took hold, and managed to stand up.

"Master Khorisa, what happened?"

"He showed us… well…" Rei cut herself short, trying to formulate her words properly.

"We…," Nara interjected, "we know about Daniel."

Nova stood silent for a few moments, too stunned to speak. Then, he let out a long sigh, and looked at each of them.

"Well," he said, "I guess you have a lot of questions, then, huh?"


	30. Chapter 29: Trust

**Author's Note:**

Hey, guys! GREAT NEWS! My 17th birthday was on the 15th, and my sister (whose art is amazing) did some _amazing_ character portraits of all five members of the crew (and a secret 6th character who is up and coming). Go check them out! Just search deviant art for the profile **nova1998**, and they're all there! I think you all will really love these (goodness knows I did), so go check 'em out! Thanks again for all the support, and enjoy _both_ the portraits _and_ this, the next chapter in the story!

~DoctorPortal

**Chapter 29: Trust**

After being ejected from the Holocron, the crew had helped Nova to the ship's med bay, where a specialized medical droid was currently running a series of neural scans on him. All four of them waited patiently, silently worried for their captain. Finally, a two-tone chime signaled the completion of the scans. Nara stood up and approached the droid.

"Well?" she asked, "how is he?"

"His neural structure has suffered some very minor disturbances, but they will heal completely," the droid said. "Expect him to be slightly more volatile for a while, but beyond that, he should be fine. So long as he never again handles that prism."

A puzzled look crept across Nara's face. Rei approached the droid.

"Prism?" she asked, "what prism?"

"The evil-looking black and red tetrahedron he was handling earlier? When he touched it, it channeled a concentrated burst of dark energy into him, which nearly corrupted his entire being. But you all intervened, which saved him. But I highly advise you destroy it."

Suddenly, Nova began to stir. The others rushed over to his bedside.

"Ugh...," Nova groaned, "what happened...?"

* * *

Nova lay on the medical cot, surrounded on all sides by his crew, who sat in rolling chairs which had been pulled over from all over the med bay. Nara stood up and leaned in close to him, looking him over.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Well," Nova replied, "like I've just had my memories invaded." He shot her an accusatory smirk.

"But, seriously, though," Nara said, trying to suppress a grin.

"But seriously," Nova said, "I feel like I've just had a highly-concentrated blast of pure dark energy try to corrupt my body at the genetic level, so, not great."

"Any... malevolent thoughts?" Nara asked. "Any feelings of invincibility or power-madness? Any strong urges to kill all of us?"

"No more than usual," Nova said, a sly grin across his face.

"Good," Nara said, smiling back. She sat back down, letting out a sigh of relief as she did.

Nova leaned back into the cushions and closed his eyes. The room settled to where the only sounds came from the various pieces of equipment and machinery that lined the med bay. After a few moments of silence, D'razz spoke up.

"Hey, uh, Nova?"

"Mmm?" Nova inquired, eyes still closed.

D'razz stopped for a moment, trying to formulate his sentence.

"Yes, D'razz?" Nova asked again.

"How... how do you... you know...go on?" D'razz asked. Nova opened his eyes and looked at him inquisitively. He was looking at the ground, and the glow in his lenses showed he was contemplating his words carefully.

"What do you mean?" Nova asked, slowly.

"I mean... I'm no stranger to loss," D'razz said, "But... the kind of stuff you've been through... I... I just... I don't-"

"It's okay," Nova said. D'razz fell silent, seemingly relieved by Nova's interjection.

"To answer your question, 'how do I go on', well..." Nova thought for a moment, then continued.

"Honestly, that's a question I'd asked myself every day for a really long time..." Nova paused for a moment and sighed. Then he looked right at D'razz.

"But it's not anymore," he said. D'razz looked up, one lens narrowed in confusion. Nova looked at each member of the group, then continued.

"It's because I have a crew," Nova said. "Because, for the first time in my life, I've got friends. People whom I know I can count on, and who I know can count on me. That's why I choose to keep going, no matter what my past tries to throw at me."

The group sat in silence for a few moments, then Rei spoke up.

"That's pretty deep," she said.

"Yeah," Nova scoffed. "Don't expect that kind of thing often," he said, giving her a smirk.

"Well," Nova began, and tried to sit up. He paused, wincing and clutching his chest, then pushed through it and sat up completely, swinging his legs over the side of the cot. He grunted with pain as he did so.

"You're in pretty bad shape," Nara said. "Where exactly are you going?"

"The Nova Sphere Chamber," Nova replied. "There's something I need to try."

Nara helped him up and pulled his right arm over her shoulder. Rei reached up and hoisted his left arm, and they helped Nova out of the med bay, and walked into the lift. D'razz and Winson followed behind. The lift took them up a few levels, and over towards the ship's center. When the doors opened, Nova shrugged off Nara and Rei's help and stumbled into the room, clutching at his side, one leg in a limp. He nearly collapsed against the main control console, but caught himself. He brought up a keypad on the console's display, then typed in a long string of codes. Then, he tapped a large, green button on the display, and stepped back.

Nova managed to position himself in a star-like pose; legs wide apart, arms out wide, palms facing the chamber. A large, grid-like scanning beam emitted from somewhere above the console. It moved up and down Nova's body for a moment, then disappeared.

Then suddenly, the glass surrounding the Nova sphere moved, sections of the transparent crystal rotating concentrically, like a lock on a safe. When they lined up, there was a tiny, vertical gap in the chamber, where the Nova Sphere was virtually unrestrained, held back only by a ray shield which activated as soon as the crystal had stopped moving. Then, a visible stream of glowing blue particles gently flowed out from the Nova Sphere, and flowed straight at Nova. He inhaled deeply, and drew the stream towards him. The particles swirled around his legs and then spiraled up and around his whole body. For a moment, Nova was lifted a few centimeters off the floor. Then, the Nova Sphere Chamber sealed itself back up, and the stream of particles dissipated. Nova lowered back to the ground.

When he turned back to face them, the crew realized that the energy had healed him, in a way. There was a faint, blue glow in his eyes, and he was standing normally and free of pain. He had a massive grin on his face.

"No way...," Nara said. "No. No fucking way, nope!" She turned and walked back into the lift.

"That's it!" She said, throwin her hands in the air. "Nope! It's just, there's no goddamn way that you just got _fucking healed_ by a bunch of _radiation!_ I'm done! Thats's it! I'm going to bed, I've been awake too long, I'm starting to see shit that's completely impossible! This goddamn ship is _fucking magical! _I'm not even going to try and make sense of this, I'm going to bed!"

And with that, the lift door slammed shut, as if to enunciate her point.

A stunned silence filled the room for several moments, before Rei spoke up again.

"Yeah, no, she's right," she said. "I'm going to bed too."

The lift opened, having apparently already dropped off Nara, and Rei and the others filed in. The lift deposited them in the hallway with each of their quarters, and one by one, the _Stormbreaker _crew each retired to their quarters for the night.


	31. Chapter 30: The Ruins

**Authors Note:**

Hey, guys! Sorry about how long it's been! I've received a few comments about slowing down, going into some more detail in chapters. To that effect, I hereby give you my longest chapter EVER!This one is something I'm really proud of, and I really hope you enjoy! Thanks again for all the support!

**~DoctorPortal**

* * *

**Chapter 30: The Ruins**

The following morning, it became immediately apparent that all of them needed more sleep. The ship's automated computer had been designed with a specific morning routine programmed into it; start by slowly bringing up the lights around the cabin and the rooms, brightening them slowly so as to help wake up the ship's occupants. Then, the viewport covers would open up, revealing the space outside. Eventually, if neither of those woke everyone up, local news audio would start playing, gaining volume slowly until everyone was up. And over time, the ship was designed to tailor wake-up calls to each occupant, and Nova was starting to hate what the ship had created for him. It consisted entirely of a sudden and violent explosion of hardcore music, concentrated at maximum volume into a 1.5-second-long burst, which got him out of bed faster than the _Millennium Falcon_ at max hyperdrive.

Nova stumbled out of bed, hair even messier than usual, and managed to take the lift down to the common living area. There, he collapsed on a couch adjacent to Nara, who'd already been there for a few minutes. She leaned against the arm of the couch, knees pulled up to her, a steaming mug of coffee clasped between her hands. When she heard Nova walk in, she acknowledged him briefly through barely-open eyes, then stretched her legs out and went back to sleep.

A few moments later, Winson walked in, sipping from a steaming mug. He sat down in one of the large armchairs and reclined back, letting out a comfortable sigh as he allowed his eyes to droop shut.

A few moments later, Rei staggered in, her hair a tangled mess of dark brown curls. She slowly walked over to where Nara was and curled up on top of her legs. Nara didn't even notice, or if she did, she didn't seem to care.

Then, finally, D'razz walked in. He looked like a zombie; the glow in his lenses reduced to thin, wobbling slits, his arms drooping at his sides. He slumped down into the remaining armchair with a sigh and lolled his head back.

"So, uh..," Nova began, his sleep-addled mind groggily attempting to form words. "You guys wanna… go for some breakfast? We need to get supplies anyway..."

A chorus of mumbled approvals rose from the group. Nova managed to blink back enough sleep to reach over and activate the holotable. He called up all the major starbases in the area, searching for a place where they could get breakfast, as well as some various supplies Nova knew they needed to pick up.

"Ugh…" Nova groaned. "I'm too tired to go to the bridge. Anyone else wanna take the pilot's chair..?"

A series of groans responded.

"Screw it," Nova sighed, "I'm engaging the autopilot." He keyed in his master access code, and reached over to hit the Autopilot Engage button. But due to an unfortunate design choice, the large, glowing, red button marked "Autopilot" was situated right next to another large button — also glowing red.

And so it happened that Nova, in his half-asleep state, brought his hand firmly down on the big red "Alert" button ... activating the ship-wide alarm system.

Needless to say, all hell broke loose. Klaxons sounded all around them, echoing throughout so that the ship itself seemed to be shouting at them. The room lighting immediately shifted to red, while an unnaturally calm voice stated the obvious: "Alert ... Alert ...", repeating every few seconds. The word 'ALERT' was projected in large red letters above the holotable, rotating slowly.

Rei was so startled she flew a few centimeters off the cushion. Nara dropped her coffee, spilling it all over herself and Rei. D'razz shot up from his chair and ran face-first into a wall … then slid down to the floor. Winson leaned forward, pinched the bridge of his nose, then began massaging his temples.

Nova, having lunged backward in surprise, had tripped over his own feet, landing painfully on his tailbone. With a grunt, he slid awkwardly along the floor to the console. He reached his arm up and groped around on the table's surface. After some searching, his fingertips found the "off" button. Nova slammed his fist down.

The sudden calm was almost as shocking as the alarm had been. In less than a second, the alert tones were silenced, the red room light reverted to the ship's normal soft lighting, and the words "Alert Canceled" appeared above the table in small gray letters. For a few moments, the only sound in the room was the hum of the ship … because everyone was still wide-eyed, holding their collective breath.

Then a soft chime sounded, and the words 'Autopilot engaged' were displayed in friendly blue letters. The background hum was gradually replaced by sound of the engines spinning up as the ship accelerated gently.

After several seconds, when it was clear that the commotion had subsided for good, Rei was the first to react.

"Ugh, _finally_..," she groaned, then toppled back down onto the couch with a heavy sigh.

Nara, having finally come to her senses, rose to her feet and stormed over to where Nova was still sitting on the floor. He scooted backward in retreat, but soon found himself cornered. Nara towered above him, glaring. He could see a fiery rage behind her eyes.

"_You...,"_ she said, jabbing a finger toward his face. She took a couple of deep breaths, then tried again. "_You _… owe me a coffee."

* * *

After the rude awakening had worn off, the journey to their destined spaceport had been uneventful. The ship arrived at Starbase CT-177BX, an orbital station around the planet Cataraan, without incident.

For most of galactic history, Cataraan had remained a lone, isolated planet, located at the center of a nebula that was far out in uncharted space. However, after a lone smuggling ship had stumbled upon the place nearly fourteen years earlier, archaeologists had flooded the place, and found the ruins of a vast, planet-spanning empire, which had likely reigned for thousands of years. Even stranger, however, was the fact that the species who'd created the ruins had likely been long gone by the time the hyperdrive was first invented. But since its discovery, the place had become a galaxy-wide phenomenon, and scientists had come from all over to see for themselves what wonders had been left behind by the ancient civilization. For that purpose, a vast space station had been built in orbit around it, which marketed to all manner of business. The place had become a hub in which all manner of people met and made their lives. But for today, it was the base of operations for Project: Caffeination, and the _Stormbreaker_ crew was reaping the benefits of the station's gigantic food court.

They each had something different. D'razz had gone with a fruit smoothie from Jabba Juice, which he consumed through a small panel which opened up in his mask. Nara and Rei were sharing an order from Pizza Hutt, Winson was eating a drumstick and mashed potatoes from Anakintucky Fried Chicken, and Nova was eating a stack of pancakes from IHan. Each of them wolfed down their first full, proper meal in nearly a day and a half.

"So," Nova said between bites, "We need some supplies, and among other things I thought it'd be fun to check out the ruins down on the planet. What do you guys think?"

"Mmm," Nara began, swallowing, "It sure sounds like a nice change of scenery. I'm up for it."

"Yeah," Rei added. "Sounds like fun."

Winson and D'razz nodded their approval.

"Good," Nova said, "We'll take the _Epsilon_."

* * *

Shortly after the completion of the orbital spaceport, an environmental interest group was founded to help maintain the integrity of the ruins. The Cataraan Preservation Society, or 'CPS' for short, placed a multitude of restrictions on travelers who wished to see the ruins firsthand. Fearing that strain from repulsorlift-equipped vehicles would cause unnecessary damage to the ruins, the CPS ruled that any and all airborne vehicles were forbidden from landing in or on any of the major cities or roadway networks. Instead, landing craft had to touch down on a secluded patch of rough terrain, and then travelers would proceed on foot to the ruins. The CPS also ruled that travelers had to bring their own supplies if they intended to stay planetside for more than a single day. As a result, as the _Stormbreaker_ crew began the long walk towards the ruins after landing, they each carried a large backpack full of supplies, which would tide them over for the three days in which they planned to spend on the planet's surface.

The planet's origins were one of many subjects that scientists had pondered over since its discovery. It was completely isolated, floating freely at the center of a vast nebula. And without the direct heating and orbit patterns of a star, the planet's geography developed in quite an unusual way. It was as if the planet was surrounded by millions of tiny, weak stars—which, technically, it was—which heated the whole planet equally, thus creating an otherwise-impossible landscape. The land was like a perfect blend of tropics, jungle, and grassland, all blended into a stunningly beautiful landscape, across the entire planet. The temperature never dropped below 67°F, and never rose above 89°F. There was a near-constant, tropical breeze, which came from its many oceans. In the daytime, the sky was a gorgeous blend of blue, purple, magenta, turquoise, and orange. And at night, the nebula beyond the plant showed its true colors, swirling a stunning blend of orange, hot pink, purple, dark blue, and gold.

* * *

The crew sat around a small, roll-up mat that Nova had brought with him. Once he'd unrolled it in the center of their campsite, it lit up with a small, holographic fire, which generated just the right amount of heat. The crew sat talking, laughing, and having a good time, completely oblivious to the incredible, stunning, and incredibly dangerous event that was about to conspire.

* * *

Nearly 35 miles above, a series of artificially constructed rings orbited the planet in acute, precisely concentric pathways. The purpose of the rings had baffled scientists ever since the planet's discovery. But now, the questions was about to be answered.

More than 390,000 years ago, the people of Cataraan, or the K'taarans, we're finally on the brink of colonizing space. But to do so, they were taking an unusual approach.

Instead of the hyperdrive-equipped vehicles that other cultures had developed throughout history, the K'taarans had attempted to create a long-distance form of teleportation system. By using their tried and long-perfected methods of transforming their own into ancient, spirit-like computer programs, the K'taarans tried to transform early test subjects into a stream of data, which they transported to a pad located on their moon, using the concentric rings as a massive transfer unit. And at first, it had worked. But on the third full test, something went wrong.

The ring-transfer system malfunctioned. The link between them faulted, causing a catastrophic error mid-transport. And the result was the emission of an ultra-powerful radiation, which affected every sentient life form on the planet.

It was what had wiped out the entire civilization.

The shockwave had also destroyed all the power plants across the world, which left all remaining technology to die, powerless and vulnerable. The rings eventually drifted naturally out of alignment, seemingly never to realign again.

But now, nearly 400,000 years later, as countless innocent lives went about their business both on the orbital station and on the planet's surface, the rings aligned once again.

* * *

"What's happening?!" Rei screamed over the massive rumbling that shook the ground beneath them.

"I dunno!" Nova cried back. "It's some form of massive seismic activity! We have to get to safety!"

The team scrambled to gather their equipment as quickly as they could, but just as Nara collapsed the final tent, the rumbling stopped, and a magnificent and gargantuan blue beam suddenly erupted from the center of the capital city, rising straight up into the atmosphere, through a series of massive rings, which made a direct path to the planet's moon.

Lines of bright turquoise energy began to spread outwards from the capital in all directions at a blazing speed, rapidly connecting together all the cities on the surface and reactivating all the ancient technology spread across the planet.

The team just stood there, a mixture of confusion, amazement, shock, and wonder across all of their faces. But the moment was interrupted when a small, black band strapped to Nova's left wrist chimed, and a holographic image was projected above it, displaying a live news feed.

"_Breaking news,_" the feed said, "_We're just receiving word that all the ancient technology on the planet Cataraan has been reactivated after thousands of years in a mysterious convergence event, and has in the process kicked up a massive dust storm which now threatens all travelers on the planet's surface. Any and all travelers planetside are strongly advised to find immediate shelter. Repeat: all planetside travelers are strongly advised to find shelter immediately. End of transmission."_

* * *

The storm hit minutes later. The team just barely managed to find a small, secluded cave before there was sand and dust swirling outside at speeds that could rip a human's skin to shreds.

"Well," Nara said, "we're screwed."

They all huddled around Nova's holographic fire, the drop in sunlight from the storm lowering the temperature to near-freezing levels.

"Do we have enough food?" Rei asked, turning to Nova.

"For three days, yeah," he said. "Beyond that, I'm not sure."

They sat despondently for a long while. After nearly two hours, Nova stood up and picked up a flashlight.

"I'm gonna go explore this cave," he said, "You guys hang out here." He turned away and started walking.

And he almost managed to take three steps before he awakened an ancient being.

Nova tread on a pressure plate and immediately, the cave began to pulse and glow, bright green lines and runes lighting up. Before the crew, the shadows on the walls seemed to shift and move away, collecting on a large, stone pad in the far corner. The shadows collected into the shape of a humanoid form, which then took further shape, revealing a human-looking figure with ghostly-pale skin, strange black robes, and glowing green eyes.

"My name is Kazutoraidesama..," the figure said, his low voice echoing through the chamber.

"...And I am the last of the K'taarans."


	32. Chapter 31: The Spirit Guardian

Chapter 31: The Spirit Guardian

A long silence filled the room. Nobody dared speak, fearing that anything they might say may only aggravate… whatever it was that they'd just awakened. Finally, D'razz spoke up.

"Y-you..," he stammered, "you're…. a K'taaran?"

The figure turned to face him. His eyes were unlike anything he'd ever seen before; the corneas was black, like empty voids of pure darkness. The irises were a stunning bright green, which glowed brightly in the darkness of the cave. And his pupils were like a pair of galaxies, seeming to swirl and twinkle with an infinite number of star clusters. The figure stared at D'razz, causing a chill to go down his spine. His eyes were like great pools of darkness, boring into his soul and his mind, reading everything D'razz was and had ever been. Time seemed to slow around him as the gaze grew stronger. D'razz's memories flashed before him. He tried to breathe, but his lungs felt as if they'd been replaced with ice cold lead. Then, as soon as the feeling had come, it was gone. The figure turned to the rest of the crew, his cloak fluttering like shadows in the cool breeze. The figure repeated the process on each of the crew, appearing before each of them as if he were teleporting through shadow. One by one, the figure inspected the crew, reading each their minds and memories as easily as a computer running a diagnostic scan. Once he had finished, he walked over to the center of the chamber and sat down with a heavy sigh. Then his eyes changed, his corneas changing to a standard white, the glow in his irises subsiding. He suddenly seemed more human, as if the cold, robotic vibe he'd given off earlier was merely a facáde. It suddenly became clear that whoever this was, he was clearly scared, and very confused. The crew's fear suddenly turned to sympathy, and Rei spoke up, weaving a soft, delicate kindness in her voice, as if she were indicating to a small child that she meant no harm.

"So," she said, "what did you say your name was?"

"Kazutoraidesema." he responded, looking straight at her.

"Well," Rei said, her tone becoming increasingly delicate, "would it be alright if I called you 'Kaz'?"

The figure looked down for a moment, thinking. Then he looked back up at her.

"Very well," he said, "'Kaz' it is."

The crew were all sitting around the pad from which Kaz had appeared. Kaz himself sat on the pad, legs dangling over the edge.

"So," Nara said, "Start from the beginning."

"Very well," Kaz said, "But I will require some assistance."

"From who? One of us?" D'razz asked.

"No," Kaz replied, a nostalgic smile spreading across his face. He outstretched his arms, pointing his flattened palms to multiple different panels along the walls of the cavern. As he pointed to them, a series of ancient holoprojectors all around the room activated, fully-immersing the crew in a gigantic, three-dimensional map of the galaxy, which spun and swirled around them. It felt as though the crew was floating in space, watching the galaxy swirl beneath them. The crew stared, bewilderment and wonder across all of their faces. Kaz manipulated the feed, causing the projection to zoom in to the uncharted regions of the galaxy. The crew felt like they were flying, zooming further and further into their own galaxy. The zoom continued inward until it reached the K'taaran Nebula. the projection remained on the nebula briefly, until the zoom went in further, until the nebula swallowed them up, and they continued to move until they seemed to float in orbit around the planet. Kaz again manipulated it, so that they were watching the planet and its moon, as they seemed to align with a series of giant, ancient rings, which appeared to concentrically orbit the planet.

"There," Kaz said, pointing to them.

"What are those?" Rei asked.

"They were an experiment performed by my people to create an interplanetary teleportation system, of sorts. The idea was to convert a person into a data stream, which would then be sent into the stream held open by the rings, which used to be permanently locked in alignment. But something went wrong one one of the trials..."

The crew watched as something on one of the rings exploded, and suddenly a massive, magenta-colored shockwave of energy rippled through the planet, after which the entire surface of the world went dark as the power cut off across the globe.

"So…. what happened then?" D'razz asked.

"Nothing," Kaz said, "Nothing happened. And nothing continued to happen for the next 389,976 years, until your kind discovered it."

The hologram vanished, leaving the old cave behind.

Silence fell amongst the crew members, each of them lost in thought. But the silence was soon interrupted when Kaz's image suddenly flickered, and he doubled over, seemingly in pain.

"Aaargh," he groaned, his image continuing to flicker and distort, causing him greater and greater pain.

"Kaz!" Nara cried and rushed over to him. "What's happening?"

"My... storage unit... It's failing...," he pointed to a small, ancient cube shape over near the pad where he had first appeared. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be where his image was being projected from.

"Nova, can you fix it?" Red asked, seemingly desperate to help her new friend.

Nova looked at the the device frantically, searching for some clues as to how it worked.

"I.. I have no clue how it works!" Nova looked around frantically for a moment, then fixated his eyes on the bag he'd been carrying earlier. Then his face lit up and he rushed over to the bag, rummaging around wildly inside of it, until he pulled out a small, pocket-sized flash drive, which had a small holoprojector at the tip of it. He held it out to Kaz.

"Here, try seeing if you can fit into this," he said.

Kaz looked at him inquisitively for a moment, then turned and looked down at the drive. He closed his eyes and focused, and his figure dissolved into shadow, swooping itself into the drive, which immediately changed, becoming a dark, metallic space gray, with glowing green accents. The holoprojector activated on its tip, and suddenly Kaz was there, seemingly in higher resolution, if that were possible.

Kaz let out a heavy sigh of relief, then turned to Nova.

"Thank you," he said, composing himself, "I am forever in your debt."

"Nah, it's cool," Nova said. "I'm just glad we could help,"

The dust storm lasted for another few hours, during which the crew told stories, roasted marshmallows over the holographic fire, and all in all had a good time.

After the storm passed, Nara suggested they head back to the Epsilon, and get back to the orbital station. The others agreed, especially Kaz, who was anxious to learn more about this strange device known as a "starship".

The team was in good spirits when they got back to the Epsilon, finding that the only damage sustained in the dust storm was a few minor scratches in the hull plating, which could easily be buffed out. Kaz was beside himself with wild curiosity. He explored the small, luxury yacht like a teenager left alone with the Internet.

The flight back to the Stormbreaker was uneventful. Even Kaz eventually settled down, resorting to stare out the forward viewport, enthralled by the vast space that lay beyond his homeworld.

But the whole time, Rei's mind was in turmoil. She'd had a terrifying revelation, one which she feared would ruin her life if leaked out, but she simply couldn't keep it out of her mind.

After the Epsilon docked back in the underbelly of her mothership, the crew filed out, Kaz immediately going back into childish-amazement mode. The others followed him, laughing, except for Rei, who lingered behind. The crew went to their various quarters, whilst Nova went to give Kaz a tour of the ship. Rei was about to go into her quarters, when she was stopped by Winson, who had noticed her unusual behavior.

"Rei," he said, causing her to turn around, "would you mind talking to me in private?" He beckoned her into his room, and she followed.

Winson gestured for her to enter, then followed her in. Winson gestured for her to sit. She did, choosing an armchair adjacent to the bed. Winson walked over to her and crouched down at her feet, looking up into her eyes. He studied her in silence for a few moments, during which Rei sat still, thoroughly confused. After a few moments, Winson spoke up.

"I don't know how," he said, "but you seem to be quite skilled at hiding your feelings, yet at the same time absolutely awful at it."

Rei got a terrified look on her face. She said nothing.

Winson stared directly into her eyes, and immediately Rei felt a strange feeling of relaxation wash over her.

"Rei, what is it that is bothering you so much?" he said. His face took on a very comforting, trustworthy look. Rei finally spoke up, her voice weak and feeble, nothing like the voice Winson knew her to have.

"Winson...," she began, slowly, "have you... ever had feelings, or a secret or whatever, which you knew that if anyone found out... that it would destroy you? That... if your loved ones learned the truth, they'd... disown you?" Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes.

Winson's face took on a sympathetic smile.

"Of course I have," he said. "Every being in the galaxy has at some point or another. But what they say is true; letting the truth out is never really as bad as you think it's going to be."

Rei didn't respond, and instead her face took on a new look, one which Winson recognized immediately.

"Oh, Rei...," he began, his voice becoming very quiet, almost a whisper. "I know that look all too well. I recognize a longing heart when I see one," he said. "You've fallen in love with someone..., haven't you?"

After that, Rei's resolve shattered. Tears streamed freely down her face, and she pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in them, then wrapped her arms around her legs. She sobbed quietly for a few minutes, during which Winson sat respectfully silent. After a few moments, Rei uncurled herself. Winson handed her a handkerchief out of his back pocket, which she used to wipe the remaining tears off her face. After a few moments, she calmed down enough to where she seemed ready to answer a few more questions. Winson spoke cautiously.

"This person... Another member of the crew?"

Rei nodded, still wiping tears from her face.

"Oh, my dear girl..." His face was one of complete understanding. He stood and rested a hand on her shoulder. Then he looked her straight in the eyes.

"It's okay," he said, "you can tell me."

Rei mustered up all the strength she had, and channeled it into a single sentence.

"Nara," she said.

"I've fallen in love with Nara."


	33. Chapter 32: The Abduction

**Author's Note:**

Hey there, readers! Sorry about the delay. As you all probably know, the series was on hiatus up until a few days or so ago. But now, I am proud to present Chapter 32 of _Stormbreaker!_ I apologize if this one is a bit short (and not nearly as detailed as I'd like), but I've been really pressed for time and I figured I'd give you guys something rather than nothing. After all, you all deserve it! Anyway, Thanks again for all the support and I hope you'll enjoy Chapter 32!

~DoctorPortal

* * *

**Chapter 32: The Abduction**

A'laan K'hol was having a pretty rotten day.

The galaxy was an evil, corrupt place, and being a freelance bounty hunter, A'laan was rarely out of work. People from all walks of life were always wanting something done, and sometimes they were willing to pay large sums of money to do it. And admittedly, A'laan usually didn't take the straight-up murder jobs. He prefered to accept the "take-alive abduction" jobs, for which he was the best in the business. Mostly, his nearly blemishless record was kept clean by his ship.

His ship, the _Forerunner,_ was the most formidable freight ship in the galaxy.

Originally, the ship started off in life as a stock Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-2400 Freighter, which A'laan acquired as a reward for one of his earliest jobs. He had then proceeded to modify the shit out of it, incorporating all sorts of units from a variety of different starships, which were also acquired through completed jobs. In his line of work, A'laan often recieved starships as rewards instead of hard cash, since the people who tended to hire him usually liked hanging onto their money, and always had far too many starships than they should have. But A'laan was perfectly contempt with this, as he always was able to take something out of the reward ship to install on the _Forerunner_. As a result, the _Forerunner_ had the gyroscopic cockpit off a B-Wing Starfighter, dorsal and ventral (top and bottom) maneuvering fins taken from two different CloakShape Fighters, four S-foil wings taken off B-Wings (arranged X-Wing style on the port and starboard sides of the ship, top and bottom), and the main blaster arrays from an X-Wing, a B-Wing, a Cloakshape, and the original YT-2400. The hyperdrive systems were so heavily upgraded that the primary unit could achieve a 0.2 hyperdrive class rating, not to mention the two independent backup systems, which could each produce a 0.8 class rating. And on top of all that sat the ship's secret weapon:

The ion cannon.

A'laan never bothered with planetside captures. Over the years, he'd developed a tactic in which he'd intentionally (albeit discreetly) inform the targets that they were being followed, then he would wait in orbit for them to try and escape. The ion cannon was the trick to taking them out and going in for the capture. And he had yet to ever fail in capturing a target.

But today was still fairly rotten. His droid companion, a little golden-orange astromech named HN-3Y (which he pronounced "Honey"), was in another one of her moods. So far, A'laan had sat in the cockpit of his ship listening to the beeps and whistles of his friend as she complained about everything and nitpicked him on the littlest of things. Were it not for the fact that they had a job to do, A'laan would have long-since deactivated the little droid. But they did, so he hadn't.

A'laan wasn't sure what to think of this one. Some crazy-overprotective parents had lost their daughter, and they were paying him ridiculous sums of money for her return. And he was hot on her trail. The hyperdrive was hard at work, navigating the _Forerunner_ through the tangled, crazy mess of hyperspace, towards the girl's last known coordinates. His readout suddenly began blinking, and the words "APPROACHING TARGET. ESTIMATE ONE MINUTE TO INTERCEPT" appeared on the display in front of him. He knew what to do. He flipped a series of switches, and the ship's _other_ secret weapon warmed up.

_Ready or not, here I come…_ A'laan thought.

* * *

Winson sat in silence. Rei sat across from him, Her head and her hands. She was sobbing quietly. Winson could see that she was clearly mortified at herself for telling him what she had, even though Winson couldn't understand why. After a few moments, Winson cautiously got up and sat down next to her. Rei tried to compose herself, and Winson tenderly lay an arm over her shoulder.

"I know, I…," Rei started, "I'm a monster…"

Winson sat bolt upright at that, and peered at her in disbelief.

"What?" Winston said, near-outrage in his voice. "What ever could've given you that idea?!"

Rei whipped her head around to look at him. Tears still streamed down her face, and her eyes were wide in surprise.

"But... I... I'm a lesbian, I'm sub-human! What do you mean?"

"_Sub-human?!" _Winston said, his voice suddenly booming with outrage. "Who in the name of the Force told you that being homosexual is sub-human?!"

Winson caught himself and calmed down.

"Rei..," he said, looking at her, "what kind of horrible person would tell you such a horrid load of Bantha dung?"

"My... my parents... My entire family... So, are you saying that all that talk, all that 'homosexuality is a crime' stuff my family told me was a lie?"

"Rei, homosexual marriage has been legal galaxy-wide for decades. Your family must be the last bigoted family in the universe, if what you say is true..." Winson said, a bewildered expression still across his face.

"So, I'm not... A monster..?" Rei asked, wiping the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.

"The only monsters here are your parents..." Winson replied.

"And in all sincerity," he continued, "I think Nara has had her eye on you for some time now..."

"Wait, _what?!"_ Rei asked, stunned.

"Indeed," Winson said, "you honestly ought to just ask-"

Winson was cut off when out of nowhere the ship lurched to one side. The lights in the room flickered and began to pulse red as the master alarm began blaring. Winson and Rei rushed out into the hall, only to run into Nara and Nova, who seemed to have been the returning from a training session. D'razz came out of his cabin in a daze, as indicated by the swirling icons in his lenses.

"What happened?!" Rei shouted over the alarm.

"We're under attack!" Nova replied. "Someone's trying to board! Come on, we can't allow anyone get their hands on this ship!"

The five of them rushed to the armory, where they each retrieved their respective weapons. After grabbing their weapons, they rushed to the door to the hallway. Nara and Rei were the first ones out. But as soon as they got there...

The door slammed behind them.

And a figure was standing there, waiting for them. He drew a strange looking blaster out of a holster on his hip and pointed it directly at them.

"Hey there," he said, "you two... are coming with me."

He fired the gun, and a large net shot out and encapsulated the two girls. Nara tried to reach for her lightsaber, but the figure walked over, reached in and removed it before she could.

"Uh-uh-uh...," he said, "we can't have that, now can we?"

Grabbing a handhold attached to the net, the figure dragged Nara and Rei down the hallway to the lift, and down to the hangar.

By the time Nova, D'razz, and Winson got out of the armory, they were too late.

Rushing to a port-side window, the three of them watched in horror as a ship retreated into the distance.


	34. Chapter 33: Tracking

**Chapter 33: Tracking**

The net was cold, dark, and cramped. Rei and Nara could see nothing; only feel the bag bumping around as they were carried to what they could only assume would be the mysterious figure's ship. Then with a hard thud, they were thrown against the ground. The net collapsed, and the two of them watched as a force field lit in front of them. They were in a cell. In front of them stood the figure who'd captured them, arms crossed across his chest. He had a cloak with a hoor masking his face in shadow.

He reached up and lowered the hood. His skin was a pale shade of orange, and he had various dark-brown stripe tattoos across his face. an array of short horns sprouted from his head, and long, flowing, amber-colored hair fell past his shoulders.

"You…" Rei began. "You're a Zabrak…"

"Well, yeah," the figure replied, "what of it?"

"Well, we... N-nevermind."

"Why have you captured us?" Nara interceded. The figure chuckled, then looked straight at her, a this smile spread across his lips.

"Because," the figure replied, "some little girl wandered a bit too far from home…"

* * *

"How the _hell_ did he get on board?!" Nova shouted, slamming his fists against the holotable. He leaned against the surface, staring down his own reflection in the darkened surface of the holotable. D'razz and Winson stood across from him, careful to not say anything. Nova was clearly incredibly pissed off. He was muttering under his breath at wild speed, pacing angrily around the room. A moment later, Kaz drifted in.

"Wow, this place is amazing!" he cried. "Seriously, I can't belie-"

He cut himself off when he saw Nova.

"Umm…," he began, "Everything okay? Where'd the two girls go?"

"AAAAAARRGH!" Nova screamed. He stormed out of the room, hands clasped around his head.

A moment of silence passed among the other three.

"So, uhh…" Kaz said, "is he okay?"

"No, he isn't…" Winson sighed. "Nara and Rei have been kidnapped.

"What? By who?" Kaz asked.

"We don't know. We couldn't even get a look at the fellow's starship before he blasted off into hyperspace."

Kaz looked down at his feet for a moment. Then suddenly, his face lit up, and he turned and looked towards the back corner of the room.

"I…," he began, "I think I can track him…"

Winson and D'razz whipped around to look at him.

"Track him?!" D'razz inquired, "as in, track him through hyperspace?"

"Yeah…" Kaz said, "I think so…"

Winson didn't hesitate a moment longer. He ran over to the wall and pressed the intercom button.

"Nova?" he said, his voice echoing throughout the ship, "I think we have a way to get them back…"

* * *

"What do you mean, _see_ it?" Nova asked. He and the others sat on the _Stormbreaker'_s bridge, listening to Kaz's plan.

"I mean, I can see his trail," Kaz said. "From what I've learned by going through the last 400,000 years of galactic history, I've learned a whole lot about hyperspace technology. One such thing is that by their very design, all hyperdrive systems leave behind a sort of 'hyperspace residue' made up of nanoscopic particles whenever they make a jump. Unfortunately, since the tech necessary to detect these particles is so primitive, you can only track them from vast, planetside observatory facilities. But, I can _see_ the residue. It's part of my programming that I can see in a nearly infinite number of spectrums, and with one of them, I can see this guy's hyperspace trail. If you can give me manual control of and a direct link to the navicomputer, I can fly us right to him."

The others sat too stunned to speak for quite some time. After several moments, Nova spoke up.

"Alright." he said. "Let's do it."

"Sweet!" Kaz said, and retreated into the data drive he'd carried in his pocket. Nova caught it as it dropped, preventing it from hitting the ground.

Nova carried Kaz's drive over to a nearby console, opened up a port, and plugged him in.

"Whhhooaaaaa…" Kaz's voice emanated from all the speakers on the ship. "It's like I've fused with the main computer! Sweet!"

"Don't get distracted, Kaz," Winson said. "We have a job to do, remember?"

"Right," Kaz said. "Aligning navicomputer…. And….. Done!"

The _Stormbreaker'_s engines spooled up to much higher pitch than they had ever heard before. Then the ship shunted forward with a force that knocked Nova, D'razz, and Winson flat to the ground. The _Stormbreaker'_s capabilities seemed exponentially greater with Kaz in control. Kaz's voice emanated from the speakers again.

"_Yeeeeaaaaaahoooooooooo!_" he screamed.

Nova, D'razz, and Winson all struggled to their feet and strapped into their respective chairs. upon getting situated, Winson closed his eyes, and meditated, attempting to send a message to Nara through the force.

"_We're coming, Nara…_" he thought.


	35. Chapter 34: Confessions

Chapter 34: Confessions

Nara and Rei sat alone in the cold, dark cell. The only sounds came from the hum of the engines of the strange ship the two found themselves on. They huddled for warmth, shuddering as they sat in danger of freezing.

"N-Nara?"

"Y-y-yeah?"

"H-He's going to take me b-back t-to the empire, i-isn't he..?"

Rei collapsed against her friend's shoulder and sobbed.

"H-he is! He's taking me back! Th-they're going to execute me! I... I'm too join to die! I.. There was so much I was going to do... I never even got to tell you-"

Rei was cut off mid-sentence ... when Nara kissed her.

It lasted only a second, and was more awkward than anything, but it was enough to make Rei's face flush bright red. Of course, Nara was unable to see her, but it didn't matter.

"Sorry, what were you going to say..?" Nara asked, the hints of laughter in her voice. Rei said nothing for several moments.

"You... You knew..?" Rei asked, still completely stunned.

"You're really shit at hiding stuff..," Nara said.

"So, does that me-"

She was interrupted when, once again, Nara kissed her.

This one lasted much longer. Exactly how long, neither of them knew. Long enough.

After a few moments, Nara broke off.

"Now," she said, "what do you say we try and find a way out of here?"

"Uh, yeah, sure..." Rei replied, still bright red in the face.

Nara stood up and walked over to the force field at the front of the cell. She stared at it for a while, peering at it left and right, hen closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

Behind her eyelids, Nara was far from blind. The world around her swirled with a bright purple tint. She could see everything around her all at once, and see inside all that surrounded her. She focused her attention to the force field mechanism. Staring into it, she could see a single electrical circuit box, which controlled the whole thing. And what's more, it's construction was fairly shoddy, enough that Nara was confident she could crush it via the Force as easily as wadding up a sheet of paper.

"Got it," she said to Rei.

"Huh? Got what?" Rei inquired.

"The way out," Nara replied, and thrust big hands out in front of her. Within the wall, a series of loud creaks and pops were heard, followed by a loud metallic crunching sound. In an instant, the force field dissipated.

"Come on!" Nara said, and ran out the door. Rei followed right behind her. On a table just outside the cell, Nara found their bags. She rummaged around, then pulled out Rei's blaster. She tossed it over, and Rei caught it in midair. Nara turned back to the bag, rummaged for another few seconds, then frowned.

"My lightsaber! Where's my lightsaber?" she said.

"You mean this?" A voice said. Nara and Rei both whipped around to see A'laan, standing here with Nara's lightsaber in his hand. He had a smug smile across his face. But Nara didn't seem fazed. She smiled as well, lookin straight at him.

"As a matter of fact, yeah," Nara said, then thrust out her arm. The lightsaber came flying out of A'laan's hand and flew right into Nara's grip. She activated it immediately and took a ready stance, waiting for A'laan to move first. Rei deactivated the safety on her blaster and aimed it carefully right at his chest.

The two sides stared daggers into each others' eyes for what seemed like an eternity, and just before any of them could make a move, the ship lurched to one side, and all three of them were thrown to the ground. Before any of them were able to get up, a hatch opened up in the middle of the room.

And with a swiftness none of them had ever seen, Nova dropped down through the hatch, drew his lightsaber, and was holding it at A'laan's throat before anyone had time to react.

When the dust settled, Nova's eyes glowed brightly blue, and his face was one of incredible fury. But upon seeing Nara and Rei across from him, the glow faded and his face loosened.

"Are you two alright?" he asked.

They nodded slightly. Nova turned his attention to A'laan, who had his hands raised in a surrender position.

"How the hell did you find me?" A'laan asked.

"I have my ways," Nova said.

* * *

As soon as they were back on board the Stormbreaker, Nara and Rei were surrounded by D'razz, Winson, and Kaz. They were questioned for what felt like an eternity, but they eventually managed to escape the others' attention. The two of them took the lift to the floor where their quarters were, and prepared to retire for the night. But just before Rei could enter her room, Nara grabbed her arm and dragged her further down the hall towards hers.

"Come on," Nara said, "We have a lot to talk about..."


	36. Chapter 35: The Rumors, Part I

**To my beloved readers,**

Hey there, guys!

Sorry about the delay between chapters. And I also apolgize if this chapter skips out on too much stuff with Nara and Rei! Unfortunately, I have absolutely _no clue_ how to do romance stuff, and since I really wanted to advance the story along, I had to focus on other stuff. If that's disappointing, again I'm super sorry! There's an excellent chance that I may rewrite the beginning of chapter later on down the line, but until I learn how to write romance I'm gonna have to stick to what I know how to do. But anyways, Thanks again to all of you who've kept up, and please enjoy Part One my first two-parter in quite some time! Enjoy!

~DoctorPortal

**Chapter 35: The Rumors, Part I**

_Naboo Capital City, many weeks later..._

The Mukure family was in turmoil.

Nara had been missing for months. None of them had heard any word from her, and the King and Queen had gotten desperate. They'd hired a bounty hunter to go retrieve her, and had received no word back from him, either.

And then there were the rumors. The King and Queen were soon to step down for Auburn's coronation as ruler of the Naboo people, and rumors were circulating that a sinister plot was to unfold on the day of the coronation, which was just a few short weeks away.

Argos paced along the living room floor, the rest of his family gathered on couches surrounding him.

"Why, _why_ has she done this to us?!" Argos said, anger made clear in his tone. "What could she possibly have to gain from betraying us like this?!"

Maylisa, Auburn, and Sala all sat quietly, allowing the King time to vent before they made any comment. But Argos didn't seem to calm down, and after several minutes, Sala snuck out of the room.

She tiptoed carefully down to her bedroom, quickly closing the door behind her as she entered. Walking over to her dresser, she pulled a long, hooded cloak over herself, then walked over to the large balcony. It was nighttime, and the moonlight shone brightly through the windows. Sala walked out onto the balcony and found the hidden notch in the side of the wall. She used it as a first handhold, following other notches until they led her down to the ground. She quickly ran across the palace grounds, careful so as not to draw any attention to herself. once she'd covered sufficient ground, she stopped and pulled out her small pocket holoterminal. She pulled the hood down off her face, pressed a button on her holoterminal, and began recording a message.

"Hey, Nara…," she began.

* * *

The past few months had been the best of Nara's life.

Firstly, she and her best friend had started dating (or at least, they'd gotten as close to dating as you can get when living aboard the same starship with a small, tight-knit group of people) after the encounter with the bounty hunter. And although they'd tried to keep it a secret at first, the rest of the crew caught on almost immediately, and were incredibly supportive, being careful to give the two of them plenty of space when there was downtime to be had.

Beyond that, however, not much had happened for her, except for the intense amount of training she'd been doing with Nova and Winson. Lightsaber techniques and object manipulation with Nova, mind training with Winson. And since then, she'd become fully at home with her Jedi powers, and was well on her way to becoming a fully-fledged Jedi Knight.

At the moment, she and Rei were in her room, just sitting on her bed and chatting.

After a moment of laughter subsided in their conversation, the intercom on the wall near the door chimed. Nova's voice came through the speaker.

"Hey, Nara, you in there?" he said.

"Yeah, I'm here!" she called back.

"Cool," Nova replied, before going on. "I've got an incoming transmission for you. I'm not sure who it's from, since whoever sent it would seem to be really good at encoding messages. All I could get out of it was that it was a private message for you, labeled as urgent. You want me to patch it through?"

"Yes, please," Nara replied. She stood up and walked over to the small holotable in the corner of the room. Rei followed.

"Do you want me to step out for a moment?" Rei asked. Nara shook her head.

"Nah, it's fine," Nara responded, "Whatever this is, I'd frankly rather not be alone to see it."

She pressed the "accept call" button on the display and the image of a young girl, only a few years older than Nara, was projected in front of them. The girl bore a striking resemblance to Nara, as if she were a relative of some sort. Nara's eyes widened with recognition when she saw her.

"Sala..?" Nara breathed quietly.

"Who?" Rei asked.

"It's… It's Sala, one of my older sisters.." Nara replied, still incredibly stunned.

The message began to play, making it apparent that it was prerecorded.

"_Hey there, Nara…," _Sala's hologram said. "_It's been a while, huh?" _She chuckled softly, then sighed, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. "_Look, I'm sending this to you for a lot of reasons, and I'm not going to try to beg you to come back, it's just…," _Sala paused for a moment. "_I'm… I'm scared, Nara. I'm so scared." _Sala's voice began to break. "_Dad's spending every waking moment in a boiling rage, mom's sick with worry, The palace guards are keeping their distance, Auburn's freaking out about every little thing, and there are rumors going around that we're all going to be assassinated on the night of Auburn's coronation! Please, Nara, I know you're super busy in training. I know you are. Mom and Dad tried to keep the Force powers thing from us, and I still think Auburn doesn't know, but I do. I've known the whole time. And I think it's great! I think that you of all people deserve to be something better than just some lowly princess who'll probably never see the throne. So I know you're probably with some Jedi Master somewhere, deep in training, and I know that this family has betrayed you in ways indescribable with words, but we're still your family. And though Mom and Dad may never be willing to admit it, they need you. Please, we need your help. Yours and Winson's, and we need it soon. I'll try to keep sending one of these each night, but there's a great chance I'll be caught sometime soon. I've modified my holoterminal to algorithmically encode these so only you get the chance to see it, but I don't know if it'll work. Please, help us, Nara, You're our only hope…"_

The message ended.

Silence passed between Nara and Rei for several moments, until Rei spoke up.

"Holy shit..." she said, cautiously. "So...What are you going to do?" she asked.

Nara said nothing, but a look of determination came across her face.

"Come on," she said, "We're gonna show the others."

* * *

"So, what exactly are you wanting us to do, Nara?" Nova asked, still left confused after being shown the recording. "Do you want us to go to Naboo?"

"No, I-I mean, Yes, I-" Nara stammered.

Winson interjected.

"Nara, are you sure you're ready to face your family again? It hasn't been very long, and you still have a lot of training to do…," WInson said.

"I…," Nara began, "I have to try."

"Very well, then…" Winson said. "Nova, are you up to this, it is your ship after all…"

Nova stood silent for a moment, arms crossed, his chin resting on his left hand. He nodded once, then spoke up.

"Yeah. I'm in." He looked up to the camera in the corner of the room.

"Kaz? What do you say we make a little detour to the Nubian System?"

Kaz's voice emanated from the overhead speakers. He was still plugged in to the main computer.

"Sounds like fun to me," he said, "I've already got the navicomputer all programmed and everything. Want me to make the jump?" he asked.

Nova leaned back in the chair behind him, raised his hand, and pointed loosely at the camera.

"Engage," he said.


	37. Chapter 36: The Rumors, Part II

**To my beloved readers:**

Hey, guys! Got a couple of announcement before the start of the chapter today. These'll be super quick, but I feel they're pretty important.

Number one, I've been receiving a few requests as of late for other story ideas, usually from anonymous (or "Guest") users, and I just felt a need to say/do something, and I'm sorry to have to say this, but...

I don't do requests. I'm sorry, really, but I just don't do requests, _especially_ if they don't have anything to do with Stormbreaker. However, I'm perfectly fine with suggestions for the story I'm currently working on, so, if you have an idea that pertains to _Stormbreaker_, then absolutely, send it my way! But, if/when you do, please do it _not in a review_, but in a PM to me from a _non-Guest _account. I hate to say this, but if I'm unable to reply to a suggestion, I'm just not going to do anything with it.

Also, I hate to be _that_ guy, but guys, If you're going to leave a review, PM, or anything else, please, _please,_ _PLEASE_ use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I know it seems a bit nit-picky, but I just have a thing where poor grammar and I don't mix very well.

Phew! Now that all the annoying, potentially-depressing stuff is out of the way, let's get to the good stuff!

A couple of people have pointed out to me an unfortunate truth, which is that the chapters have been getting shorter. Which, they are, and it's completely unintentional. So, as a sort of "screw you" to short chapters, I've made this chapter extra long and juicy for you guys! There's some super-intense stuff happening in this one, and I think you'll really enjoy it!

Oh, and that reminds me!

Whenever I write new chapters, I always do so in one great, big Google Doc, then copy-and-paste the chapters individually into here. And the Google Doc just reached a big milestone:

115 PAGES LONG! That's one-hundred and fifteen pages of _Stormbreaker Chronicles!_ And I'm not even _close_ to done yet! So, you awesome guys can expect plenty more Stormbreaker to come for a good long time!

Anyway, That's all from me for now, so enjoy Chapter 36, The Rumors, Part II!

~DoctorPortal

* * *

**Chapter 36: Rumors, Part II**

Via New Republic regulation, any vessels entering the Naboo System had to check in with the orbital station before they could be granted permission to land. And just as Nova had expected, the station sent the _Stormbreaker_ a communication request as soon as they dropped out of hyperspace.

"_This is Imperial Orbital Station N-One-Three-Seven-Alpha. Unknown vessel, please identify._" A cold, punctual voice said over the line.

Almost immediately, Nara spoke up.

"Wait, _Imper-_"

Nova cut her off. Nara could see his eyes were wide, and his thoughts were in overdrive trying to think of a plan. Then he blinked, and began typing rapidly at the console in front of him.

"Uhh, yes," Nova said, taking on a slightly different voice, "This is the diplomatic vessel _Tempesta_ hailing from Coruscant, I'm carrying five visitors for the Royal Family, here for the upcoming Coronation Event. Transferring manifest to you now."

As soon as Nova said that, all the screens along the bridge blinked, changed from blue to an unfamiliar golden-yellow, then changed completely to reflect the 'luxury yacht' persona the ship had suddenly taken on.

A few moments of awkward silence passed, followed by the Imperial man coming back on the line.

"_Very well, Tempesta, everything seems to check out here, you are free to pass. Safe travels,_" the man said, then cut the transmission.

Nova sighed heavily.

"What the hell was that?" Nara asked.

"I don't know," Nova replied, "but whatever it is, it can't be good."

Nova turned to face back towards the viewports, then grabbed the control yoke to take the _Stormbreaker_ in for landing.

Meanwhile, Nara was feeling very differently than she'd expected she would. She'd expected to feel nervous, but instead she felt a strange sort of calm. Almost as if she no longer cared what her family thought of her.

As the ship broke through the clouds, the glimmering capital city of Theed appeared in the distance. Being the large ship that it was, Nova had been sent landing information that took them past the city to a larger landing pad just outside the main walls. But Nova ignored those directions and instead flew a ways away, behind some mountains. After which, he keyed in the master code, and engaged the cloak.

"Nova? What the hell are you doing?" Nara asked.

"Ignoring Imperial regulation," he replied, casually.

Nova then flew the now-cloaked ship almost right next to the city, and touched down.

Nova activated the intercom and grabbed the mic.

"Okay, everyone, let's go see just how fucked up this city's become," he said.

* * *

As soon as she saw the ship, Sala Mukure knew they were saved. She couldn't figure out how, but she could tell that Nara was on board the ship. And she had good taste, because Sala had never seen a more incredible ship in her life. Its design was beautifully simple, made up of relatively few lines, and yet it managed to be stunningly gorgeous nonetheless. It reminded her of the Nubian ships she was familiar with. The _Stormbreaker_; she'd seen the ship's name carved into its hull in that strange-looking font.

Then she saw it disappear, which made her more than slightly confused.

It flew behind some mountains, where most of it became invisible, but then what remained shown also became invisible, as if with magic. But then it took off again, which Sala could still see. If she focused really closely, she could see a faint, shimmering outline of the ship, which immediately landed just near the easternmost gate into the city, which she could get to in minutes.

_I have to get over there,_ Sala thought.

* * *

"There's no way that nobody saw us," Nara said to Nova, as they and the others walked down the lower decks to the boarding ramp. Nova replied as he started lowering the ramp.

Nova scoffed. "Believe me, this baby's cloak is as good as they get. I'm completely certain that there's no way someone could ha-"

He cut himself off when the boarding ramp touched the ground, and Sala Mukure was standing right at its base.

"Nara!" Sala said, a huge grin appearing on her face. She sprinted up the ramp to greet her sister, pulling Nara into a huge hug. Nara returned it, despite being still too stunned to speak.

"Oh, thank goodness, you came!" Sala said. "Oh, I was so worried. And hey, and who are these people?" Sala said, standing up and looking over the others.

"Hello again, Sala," Winson said. "Still cheery as ever, I see…," he added, a smile formed at the corners of his mouth.

"Great to see you again, Winson. But you," Sala said, turning to Nara. "You have some serious talking to do, Nara." She leaned forward, staring straight into Nara's eyes. Nara backed down slightly, clearly embarrassed.

"You have to tell me everything!" Sala said, the cheeriness returning in an instant.

"Wait, what?" Nara said, confused at what her sister was asking.

"I wanna know everything, starting from your daring escape, up until right now. I gotta know what exciting adventures you've been on!"

Nara was too stunned to speak. For several moments, she merely stared at her sister, who still had a wildly excited grin on her face.

"Oh, you mean, like, right now?" Nara asked.

"Or whenever, but first, come on. You all need off this ship."

* * *

Sala gave the crew a grand tour of Theed.

For the others, it was a welcome treat. But for D'razz, it was a constant reminder of the scary-looking hardware strapped to his face.

What bothered him most was the looks he was getting. People steered clear of him, giving him strange looks and avoiding eye contact. It made D'razz feel very uncomfortable.

Nova must have sensed what he was feeling, because D'razz felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, D'razz, come here a second, would you?" he heard Nova say. D'razz followed him off to the side, watching the others disappear into the crowd. Then he looked back at Nova, and saw the sympathetic and reassuring look on his face. Nova rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I know, man. Having the mask sucks," ova said, "but don't forget, it's there for a reason."

D'razz scoffed and looked away. "Yeah…," he said, "to hide my disgusting, blown-off face..."

"Well, no, not exactly," Nova said.

D'razz looked back at him, an inquisitive expression across his face. Nova went on.

"It's _regenerating_ your face, not hiding it. I may not have made that clear the first time. Right now, as we speak, the mask is sending all sorts of specially-designed chemicals and growth-enhancing radiation into your skin cells, all with the express purpose of completely reconstructing your face. And you only have a few weeks left…."

"Wait, _what?!_" D'razz said. "_Weeks?!_ You said I'd have it for two years!"

Nova looked extremely puzzled.

"I did?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"_YES!_" D'razz cried. He was breathing heavily. But he quickly caught himself, and calmed down.

"So…," D'razz went on, "How many weeks are we talking about here?"

"I'm… honestly not sure," Nova said. "I just create the tech. And you'd think that'd mean I'd understand it, but that's just not the case sometimes…." Nova chuckled, and D'razz joined in.

"Now," Nova said,

"Let's go find the others."

* * *

The tour continued through the streets of Theed until the crew and Sala reached the main gates of the palace.

"And _this_," Sala said, "is the gates to the palace. We…," she slowed down. "We actually ought to skip this part…"

"Why?" Rei asked. Nara shot her a look.

"Oh, right," Rei added, "Sorry."

Sala turned around and began to lead the group back the other way, but before she could,

One of the guards spotted Nara.

"Hey, you there! Stop!" the guard cried, and began to run after them.

Sala stopped and turned.

"Uh oh… We'd better run! This way!" she said.

She led the crew into a nearby alleyway, and out into a vast, rectangular courtyard, looked wildly around, and gestured for the team to follow her once again.

She led them into a side street across the courtyard, which then spit them out into a smaller, circular courtyard, where buildings surrounded them, all but for four thin alleyways leading out.

And there were guards waiting at each of the over three exits. The guards chasing them quickly closed off the fourth.

They were surrounded, on all sides.

Moments later, an airspeed we flew overhead and hovered there, watching them from above.

The guards pointed their blasters at the crew. Nova removed his lightsaber from his belt, slowly placed it at his feet, and raised his hands. He nodded for the others to do the same. Begrudgingly, they did, with Nara being the last to do so. A group of guards tied each of them up individually, then to each other.

As soon as they finished, another group of soldiers in front of the crew snapped to attention, then stepped to the side …

… allowing Argos Mukure to pass between them.

He looked over the crew. His eyes narrowed when he spotted Nova and Winson, and when his eyes fell on Nara and Sala, his face took on an appearance of silent fury.

"I truly did not see this coming…," he said, fire blazing in his eyes. "I knew that Nara was capable of this treachery, but you as well, Sala?! Truly I did not expect this…" He walked over to Nara's lightsaber, which gleamed under the bright light of day. He picked it up, feeling it's weight and watching the way the light reflected off its surface. But he wasn't impressed.

Argos tossed the lightsaber back to the ground. Then he turned towards one of the guards, and gestured towards the lightsaber. The guard raised his gun, aiming straight for it. The guard pulled the trigger.

But somehow, he missed. The blaster bolt hit the the ground next to it, kicking up dirt. The guard looked stunned for a moment, readjusted his aim, then fired again.

Again, missed.

Then the lightsaber floated off the ground, and over to Nara, whose eyes were closed in intense concentration. The lightsaber lowered to the ground next to her.

Then, the crew, Argos, and all the guards began rising into the air. Higher and higher, until they were nearly eight feet in the air. The guards were flailing, and Argos just seemed confused.

Even Nara looked up, just in time to see Nova and D'razz lying prone on a rooftop, and Nova had his arms outstretched, eyes closed in focus. D'razz winked at her, then gave her a strange look, which Nara somehow interpreted immediately.

_Huh,_ she thought, _I wonder when we started to be able to interpret each other's facial expressions so easily..._

But Nara knew what to do. She focused on the mechanism that held the crew's bonds together, finding the weak points in its structural integrity. She focused harder, and the metal device began to shudder. It creaked and groaned under the stress, before finally shattering into fragments. Nova dropped them, and Nara hit the ground and went right into a combat roll. She reached for her lightsaber, and it flew straight into her hand. She pressed the small, circular switch, and the bright purple blade sprung into life. Nara aimed and threw it boomerang-style straight up to the air speeder above them, and sliced through its port-side engine turbine. The air speeder began to spin, then the pilot lost control, and the speeder crash-landed somewhere a ways off.

Nova dropped the guards and Argos. Argos landed flat on his back on the ground a short ways away from Nara, who ran over to him, lightsaber drawn.

Argos sat up, then backed quickly up until he found himself up against a wall. Nara towered over him, a vibrant purple glow emanating from her eyes. She breathed heavily, and she radiated pure power.

After several silent moments, Nara finally spoke. And when she did, her words were slow, deliberate, and dripping with power.

"_YOU…,_" she breathed. Argos's face dripped with sweat, and his face was filled with fear.

"_You….," _Nara said again, softer this time, and the glow in her eyes died. She stared deeply into the dark-brown eyes of her father, the man who'd isolated her, betrayed her, and held her back her whole life.

"You've failed…, dad," Nara said, a powerful pride in her tone. "Despite all you've done to try and hold me back, you've still failed, because I…. I am a Jedi. I am a Jedi, as I was always meant to be. I am a Jedi, as I should have been a long time ago. I have finally been given the chance to reach my full potential-" Nara's eyes began to glow again. "-Instead of being _locked up in my room! For fourteen years, fourteen FUCKING years, you LOCKED ME UP IN MY ROOM! Up until a few months ago, I hadn't seen sunlight except through the huge shades you had installed on my window! And for every single one of those fourteen years, you know what I got on my birthday? LONELINESS! Pain, sadness, and despair, because of YOU, and YOU ALONE! I had ONE FRIEND my whole life, and even he couldn't be honest with me because if I found out he was force-sensitive, you would too, and then you'd TAKE HIM AWAY!_" Nara had tears streaming down her face, and her voice was breaking. the glow suddenly dies down, and her eyes once again reverted to the golden-brown they were used to.

"How…," she said, "How _could _you, dad?" She sniffled, and wiped her face dry with her sleeve. It had no effect.

"How could you hold me back like that? Your own _daughter,_ and you treat her like an unwanted pest you just can't get rid of. How could you _do_ that?"

Winson walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. Nara reached up and placed her hand atop his.

"I don't know who you think you are," Nara continued, "but you…. You are _not_ my father."

Nara whipped around and walked back to her friends. Rei placed a hand on her shoulder as they began walking towards the eastern gate, beyond which the _Stormbreaker_ was waiting. Nova and D'razz carefully made their way down from the rooftop and joined them.

Winson stood and watched Argos momentarily.

"Winson…," Argos managed, "Winson, please…"

Winson closed his eyes and shook his head.

"You are a small, _pathetic_ excuse for a man, Argos. You bring shame to your family..."

Winson turned and followed the others out of the courtyard. None of the guards tried to stop them.


	38. Chapter 37: The Apparition

**To my beloved readers:**

Hey there, guys! So, I've been doing a whole lot of brainstorming lately, and I've come up with some really crazy and awesome stuff for the series! The first of a long series of super-awesome and unique ideas is shown in this chapter, and I really think you guys are gonna LOVE this one! Anyway, not much news beyond that, so I hope you enjoy Chapter 37!

~DoctorPortal

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Apparition**

Nara managed to keep her composure long enough to get out of sight of Argos, but not much further. She was in tears by the time they approached the Eastern Gate, beyond which the cloaked _Stormbreaker_ waited for their return. As they reached the gate, the guards stood aside and allowed them to pass through.

They almost made it to the ship when the first bomb hit.

Seemingly out of nowhere, TIE Fighters, TIE Bombers, and various other Imperial craft were attacking the city. All around them buildings were crumbling, people were running and screaming, and in minutes the city was ablaze.

The crew stared in silence for a moment, then Nova began shouting.

"We're under attack!" he shouted.

"Really?!" Nara screamed, "what tipped you off, genius?!"

"Come on!" Nova shouted, gesturing for the others to follow, "we have to get on board th-"

Before he could finish, one TIE Bomber got extremely lucky.

A bomb detonated high above them, and the _Stormbreaker_'s cloak began to fail. Bits of the ship's hull phased into view. Then more TIE craft changed course and converged on its position. Within seconds, the ship was under attack from dozens of fighters, and was completely defenseless.

Nova stared up at his ship, watching in horror as it was bombed mercilessly. He stood completely, eyes wide, mouth agape, his face a mask of sheer horror. Explosions began erupting across the _Stormbreaker_'s hull as its structural integrity weakened. Then, a massive explosion erupted on the port side, and one of the main landing legs collapsed. With a mighty groan, the _Stormbreaker_ tipped over onto its side, landing on the left falcon extension, kicking up a massive cloud of dust, which rocketed towards them.

Nova continued to stare, his face remaining the same mask of terror it had been. He sank to his knees, his arms falling to his sides.

"Nova!" Nara screamed, seeing him. "Come on, we have to go!"

She and Rei rushed over to him, grabbing him under the arms, and dragged him away from the dust storm. D'razz and Winson ran over to them, and together Nara and Winson shielded the crew in a Force bubble. The dust passed over them, and didn't subside for several seconds. When it did, and Nara and Winson dropped the bubble, they were greeted with a heartbreaking sight.

The _Stormbreaker _was in ruins.

She sat leaning to one side, hull breaches the side of speeder bikes all along the hull. Wires and cables hung down, sparking sporadically.

The crew said nothing, but instead turned to look at Nova.

Upon closer inspection, Nova's eyes appeared dark and lifeless, as if his soul had imploded in upon itself. He toppled, falling to the dirt with a thump.

"Nova!" Rei cried. She ran over, flipping him onto his back. She felt for a pulse, and found one, and she noticed he was still breathing. But that was it. Beyond that, Nova was motionless.

"Winson, what's wrong with him?" Nara asked. Winson kneeled down next to Nova, and spread his hand across specific points on Nova's face. He closed his eyes, and concentrated. Winson's face became one of intrigue, followed by confusion, and he stood back up.

"It's…. It is as though his mind is a void..," Winson said, "It is as if his consciousness has been ripped out of his body..."

* * *

Kaz had been caught completely off-guard by the bombing.

He'd done everything he could to keep the ship held together, but in the end it hadn't made a difference. So, at the last minute, he'd ejected himself into the pocket drive to prevent being shut down with the rest of the main computer.

Somehow, the ship had stayed mostly intact, despite the numerous gaping breaches in her hull. But the most puzzling thing for Kaz was the fact that the Nova Sphere hasn't exploded. The ship had been completely disabled, which normally would have resulted in an explosion that would have disintegrated the entire planet, but somehow, it hadn't. So now, Kaz was trapped in the _Stormbreaker_'s now dark and lifeless bridge.

But then he had an idea. He concentrated hard, and suddenly both him and the pocket drive he carried in his pocket ceased to be a hard-light projection, and instead became interphasic, like a ghost. He willed himself forward, and he floated through the collapsed bulkheads and down into the ship. He sunk lower though the decks, inspecting the damage. Interestingly, even with the huge, gaping holes, the ship had stayed almost perfectly intact. Sure, there were collapsed bulkheads and toppled struts everywhere, but the ship retained its shape, the decks themselves still had their floors and ceilings, and the more Kaz inspected, the more convinced he became that the ship was, in fact, repairable.

The Nova Sphere chamber was a different story, however.

The room was in ruin. The power distribution tubes dangled from the ceiling, cold and lifeless. The containment unit itself had a gigantic crack in its surface. But the Nova Sphere itself was nowhere to be found.

Kaz floated up to the chamber, and upon peering inside, he found the Nova Sphere.

It sat on the floor of the chamber, and it had lost its glow. It sat dark, the substance inside of it resembling dark storm clouds. Kaz floated into the chamber, and re-phased his hand so as to pick it up. It was ice cold to the touch. But then he heard a voice.

_Kazutoraidesema…_ it said. _Quickly, I require your assistance._

Kaz navigated himself out of the chamber, feeding the still-solid Nova Sphere through the huge gouge in the containment unit. He pocketed the Nova Sphere and followed the sound of the voice down to Nova's quarters, which, like much of the ship, seemed fine.

Inside he found the strange, glowing cube, sitting atop Nova's dresser, the only still-glowing thing on the entire ship.

_Place your hand upon the cube,_ the voice said. Kaz followed as instructed, and immediately his mind was filled by a rush of information. His face turned to one of worry. Not confusion, just worry.

"This can't be good…" he muttered.

* * *

The bombing run had ended. the TIEs had retreated, leaving the capital city of Theed a burning ruin. And the _Stormbreaker_'s brave crew stood over their captain, none of them able to comprehend what had happened. But moments later, an airlock door was blown open, sending the doors landing with a loud clang off to the side of the crew. Kaz jumped down through the opening. In his hand, he carried a glowing cube. He stopped, looking around for the crew.

"Kaz!" Rei yelled, waving her hand. "Over here!"

Kaz ran over to them at an alarming speed, almost as if he had teleported.

"Guys!" Kaz said. "Thank goodness you're alright. I've got some good news, and some bad news."

"We'll take any sort of good news at this point," Nara said.

"Okay," Kaz said, "the good news is that the _Stormbreaker_ can be repaired."

"That's good," Winson said, "but what's the bad news?"

"It involves Nova," Kaz replied.

"Do you know what's happened to him?" Rei inquired. Then a familiar voice emanated from the cube in Kaz's hand. A holographic image suddenly erupted from the orb at the cube's center, and the spirit of Master Khorisa appeared before them.

"He doesn't," Khorisa said, "But I do."

* * *

"You did _what?!_" Nara demanded, still thoroughly confused at what Khorisa had just told them.

"As you are aware," Khorisa began, "I am able to see many things beyond the confines of my holocron. But I was not given any warning to the suddenness of the attack. I knew that, should the ship lose power, the Nova Sphere would become unregulated and overload, causing an explosion that would wipe out the entire system. So, I attempted to extract the piece of Nova's essence that fueled the Nova Sphere, and store it in my holocron for safety. But I did not have enough time, and as a result made a critical error. In attempting to extract the essence from the Nova Sphere, I accidentally extracted the essence from Nova himself, as well..."

Before anyone had time to react, a stream of bright blue energy began flowing out of Khorisa's Holocron, and started taking shape. When it had finished, a glowing blue apparition stood before them.

It was Nova. Before them stood the life essence of Nova Xaris, powerful enough to maintain its shape with nothing more than subconscious thought.

"Hey guys," Nova said, his voice slightly distorted and ghostly.

"What did I miss?"


	39. Chapter 38: Van Haveren's Revenge

**Author's Note:**

Hey, guys! Sorry it's been so long since I updated. Marching Band has taken up so much of my time, it made it hard to _brainstorm_ for chapters, much less get the down! But anyway, I went ahead and spent extra time on this chapter, making it extra long and awesome for you guys. You're all the best, and I'll see you guys soon! Thanks again for all the support!

~DoctorPortal

* * *

**Chapter 38: Van Haveren's Revenge**

The crew stared for a moment, none of them able to speak. After several moments, Khorisa spoke up.

"Nova..," he began, "do you... Remember anything about the last ten minutes? Anything at all?"

"Well, yeah," Nova replied, "Taking down Argos, making it back to the ship, then everything gets fuzzy..."

"Okay," Khorisa said, "then I suggest you-"

"Wait, what the..?!" Nova interrupted. He spotted what lie off to one side. It was his body, still breathing, but otherwise lifeless.

"Is that... Me?" He asked. He looked down, and saw his arms, which glowed bright blue. He gasped.

"What?! What happened?! Why am I like thi-"

He cut himself off when he turned around. Before him, his glorious ship still sat in ruin. His arms dropped to his sides, and he collapsed to his knees, still staring up at the cold and dark hull that had once been the _Stormbreaker_.

"What...," he managed, "What happened...?"

* * *

Khorisa had explained it as best he could, but it wasn't really enough.

"So...," Nova said, "this is... All of me? Like, the unfragmented version?"

"Correct," Khorisa explained. "I'd intended to only rip the energy out of the ship, but in doing so, also ripped it out of you."

"So... Where is the Nova Sphere?" Nova asked.

"Here," Kaz said, and stepped forth. He reached into his pocket, and pulled it out.

The little sphere was dark. Dark gray clouds seemed to swirl slowly inside of it, and it was cold to the touch. Kaz handed it to Nova, and the sphere floated right above his palm, since he couldn't physically touch it. But he could tell how cold it was.

Nova sighed and turned around, facing the ship once again.

"What happened to my ship, Kaz?" Nova asked.

"One bomber got lucky," Kaz replied. "The others just followed in attacking it once the cloak failed. But there's something you should know," he added. Nova turned to look at him, an inquisitive look on his face.

"It can be repaired," Kaz said.

Nova's eyes lit up. Literally, a bright blue pulse flashed in his eyes. His face took on a hopeful look.

"It… it can?" Nova asked.

"Well," Kaz began, "I mean, we'd need a crack team of starship experts, not to mention supplies, and a shipyard, but if we could gain access to all that, then yeah, we can fix her."

Finally Rei said something. She stood, arms crossed,

"Guys, aren't you forgetting something?" she asked, and nodded her head to the city behind her.

Smoke still billowed from the buildings. Some were even still on fire. Red firefighter ships flew around the city, extinguishing the flames that still remained.

Nova and Kaz's faces both went slack.

"Oh, right," Kaz said.

Nova looked around, then realized someone was missing from their group.

"Wait, where's Nara?" he asked.

"While you two were yammering, she went off to make sure her family was okay," Rei said. Her arms were still crossed. She waited as Nova and Kaz said nothing, then spoke up again.

"So…. Are you two just gonna stand there? Or are we gonna go help her?" she asked.

Nova and Kaz looked at each other, then at her, then the others, and nodded. But then Nova's face lit up with a sudden realization.

"But wait, how am I gonna fight like this?" he asked, gesturing to his ghostly blue state.

"I think I can help with that," Khorisa added. "Nova, I want you to simply focus on your body, and concentrate your energy into it. Try it," Khorisa instructed.

Nova did as instructed.; he closed his eyes, and willed himself forward. And just like that, the blue apparition collapsed, and flowed into Nova's body. His body pulsed and glowed bright blue for a moment, then the glow faded, and Nova opened his eyes, coughing and spluttering as he managed to sit up.

"Ugh…," Nova groaned, pressing his hand to his forehead. The others rushed over to him.

"How do you feel?" Winson asked.

"I.. I feel... Empowered...," Nova said. "Like I could take on an army single-handed."

"Well, you do have your complete force essence with you for the first time in, oh, how long exactly?"

"Nearly three years...," Nova replied. Winson's eyes widened a little.

"Wait," D'razz stopped him."Sorry, how long? You've barely even been with us for a year!"

Nova sighed.

"I was alone for a long time after I built the _Stormbreaker_. For a long time, she was my only friend," Nova said, as he looked back up at the ship. He sighed again and stood up.

"Come on," Nova said, "Let's go help Nara."

* * *

Nara hadn't been sure what to expect when she got to the palace, but what she found was far beyond what she could have imagined.

Windows everywhere had been smashed to pieces. The fountains and statues were all severely damaged, some reduced to rubble atop their pedestals. The gardens were obliterated, and the palace itself was in terrible disarray. Walls had huge holes in them, and smoke still poured out of some of the rooms, which firefighter speeders tried desperately to contain. But still, Nara ran, ran along the palace grounds, scanning her surroundings, just waiting for the attack she knew was soon to come. But so far, she'd found no one. And the more she looked, and the more nothingness she found, the more she ran.

Despite everything her family had done to her, she was finding herself growing more and more concerned with them. She felt a need to protect her sisters, if not her parents as well. Perhaps it was that although she would never forgive them, perhaps they could forgive her. So Nara pressed on, and finally she stopped in the middle of a courtyard, taking a moment to catch her breath. She scanned around her, both with her eyes and through the force. Through the force she found something she hadn't expected lurking within a wall across the way from her: a hidden lever, which seemed to open a secret tunnel into the palace. She walked over to the wall, closed her eyes, and focused on the lever. Clearly, it had not been used in quite some time, as it proved very difficult to move. But after a few moments, it finally budged, and before her a chunk of the wall opened up at her knee level. She crouched down, and crawled inside. And almost immediately, the door closed behind her.

_Well, great_, she thought to herself. _Looks like it's force-vision for this part…_

Nara closed her eyes, and the tunnel before her appeared in varying shades of purple. She navigated the space, and finally found the end. She force-pulled another lever, and another chunk of wall slid open. She stepped out …

Into the hallway, right next to her old room.

Nara stopped and stared at the door for a moment. She turned around, and saw that the tunnel had exited right behind a painting, one which she'd admired for years. It was a huge, beautiful painting, which depicted a beautiful nebula, and a lone starship streaking through it, gleaming in the light cast by its surroundings. And on closer inspection, there was no questioning what it was.

It was the _Stormbreaker. _

Or rather, it looked almost exactly like the _Stormbreaker_. But some things were different. For instance, the ship in the painting looked bigger. It looked massive, in fact. At least twice the size of the ship Nara was familiar with. And towards the top of the ship, there was a sort of cutout in the side, which had a blue force field covering it. It looked like a full-size hangar bay, like one would find on a capital ship. She found the spot on the nose of the ship where the name was inscribed on the real ship, and found the same thing on the painting, but it was too small to read. She scanned the frame, looking for a plaque, or marker, something with which to identify the mysterious vessel. She didn't find one. Nara turned, about to walk away, when something caught her eye. She turned back to face the painting.

At the bottom of the frame, there was a tiny fleck of gold plating visible beneath the frame's brown coat of paint. She took her fingernail and rubbed at the paint, and soon a faded gold plaque was made visible, which finally gave a name to the mysterious ship.

_Stormbreaker II._

Nara's face went slack. she stared at the plaque, then the painting, then the plaque, the the painting, alternating for several moments. But then she heard the scream.

"_Aaaahhh! Help! Someone, please!_" it said.

It was Sala.

In a rush, Nara tore the painting off the wall and force-peeled the plaque off the frame. She searched frantically, and saw a quiver of arrows leaning against a metal statue. She force-pulled it to her dumped the arrows, then rolled up the painting and slid it and the plaque into the quiver. She covered the quiver with the lid, and slung it across her back. Then she ran towards where the scream had originated, breaking into a force sprint.

When she got to the corner, she peeked around, and saw the unthinkable.

Dozens of stormtroopers stood in formation, surrounding Nara's entire family, who all sat against a wall, bound and gagged. Nara quickly whipped back around the corner, the closed her eyes, looking through the force, trying to find somewhere she could get to in order to avoid attention. She found the nearest of the rafters, which was close enough for her to jump to. She opened her eyes, and looked up. Upon seeing them, Nara took a few moments to time her jump. Then she leaped high into the air, landing perfectly on the strut. A stormtrooper standing nearby turned and looked right at where she had been, then shrugged and faced back forwards. Nara force-leaped from beam to beam, until she sat crouched on a beam behind all the troopers, facing her family. Then, below her, the stormtroopers parted, and a single set of footsteps echoed through the chamber.

"Hello, Mukure family," said the voice of Jonathan Van Haveren. "Oh, how I've waited for this day to come…"

* * *

Nara kneeled on the rafter beam, watching in silent awe as Jonathan Van Haveren talked her family through how they were about to die mercilessly at the hands of the largest firing squad ever assembled. Nara could hear everything he said, but tuned most of it out. Instead, she focused on her family. An idea struck, and she closed her eyes, concentrating her energy towards her sister, Sala.

_Sala…_ she thought. _If you can hear me, don't say anything. Don't even move. Just blink twice._

Much to Nara's surprise, Sala blinked twice. Nara sat still for a moment, amazed that her crazy idea had worked, then reached out to Sala again.

_Whoa,_ Nara thought, _That worked? Okay, look. Don't make it obvious, But look behind Van Haveren. I'm up in the rafters. If you see me, blink twice. If not, blink once._

Once again, Sala blinked twice, so Nara reached out again.

_Good. I'm here, okay? No matter what happens, I'm not gonna let anything happen to any of you. I just have to come up with a plan. If you understand, just-_

Sala blinked twice before Nara even finished.

_Okay_, Nara thought, _You're catching on. Good. Just stay put, and don't give anyone the idea I'm communicating with you. _

Sala blinked twice again, and Nara didn't continue.

But then, Haveren ended his long-winded monologue. He began to raise his hand, preparing the stormtroopers to fire.

Nara's mind went into a frenzy, but then everything around her seemed to change. In an instant, the passage of time for Nara seemed to have slown down to a crawl. She looked down, and saw that Van Haveren was lowering his hand extremely slowly, at a snail's pace.

Nara's thoughts were crystal clear. Her mind was completely clean of any distractions, and she began to formulate a plan. It came to her in seconds, and she leapt forth from the rafters.

As soon as she hit the ground, she pulled a combat roll, coming to a stop right in front of Sala. Time shifted back to normal at the very moment Nara threw her arms out to her sides, encapsulating her family in a force bubble.

The blaster bolts came milliseconds later, and all were absorbed by the bubble. Nara clenched as they impacted, then relaxed again as Van Haveren gestured for the stormtroopers to hold fire.

"_Nara?!" _Auburn cried from behind her. "Nara? Is.. Is that you...? What are you..?"

"I'm not letting you die, is what I'm doing," Nara replied through clenched teeth.

Van Haveren smiled coldly. He chuckled sinisterly.

"Oh, pathetic child, what exactly do you expect to gain from all of this? You have only doomed yourself, as well as your family."

"Look, Van Haveren," Nara said, "if you want them, you're gonna have to get through _me_ first!"

Van Haveren's thin smile widened slightly.

"Very well, then...," he said ...

"Draw your weapon."

Nara dropped the bubble, and stood up tall. The stormtroopers didn't move.

Nara reached her arm across her waist, reaching towards her belt. Her hand stopped at her midsection, and with a flick of the wrist, her lightsaber flew straight into her grasp. She whipped her arm back around, slinging the hilt down and away from her, igniting the blade as she did. When the bright purple blade erupted from the hilt, Auburn gasped.

"Nara, is ... Is that a lightsaber? Y-you … you're a …. a Jedi..?"

Nara said nothing in response. Instead, she took a deep breath, and once again time seemed to slow to a crawl.

_Huh,_ she thought, _I could get used to being able to do this…_

Nara leapt forward and began striking and slicing at all the stormtroopers at a speed that was blinding, even from her perspective. To them, she must've been a blur. For a few moments, her instincts took over, and she lashed out at every single stormtrooper, until she saw that in her pocket of time distortion, they all were in the process of collapsing to the ground, blood spurting from a countless number of wounds. Nara had done all she could to only disable the troopers, and most had only received wounds that would take them out of commission for a while. But she could see the one or two that probably wouldn't see the light of day much longer. She felt a knot in her throat at the thought of that. But she leaped back, landing so she once again stood before Van Haveren. Then, time resumed its normal speed, and with it, Nara's energy crashed. With a gasp, she collapsed to her knees and tried to catch her breath. Immediately all the troopers collapsed, and a chorus of groans and coughing arose from the surrounding room. Van Haveren had a bewildered look on his face. But then, without saying a word, he narrowed his eyes and shot a vengeful look at Nara, then pressed a button on his communicator. Suddenly a series of white bands streaked and swirled around him until he became a white silhouette, then he was gone, just like that.

Moments later, a window off to Nara's right shattered, and the rest of the crew leaped in, weapons raised. Winson was ahead of the others, and upon seeing Nara, he rushed over to her.

As soon as he was close enough, Nara pulled him into a firm hug, which Winson returned.

"So," Winson inquired …

"What happened?"


	40. Chapter 39: Reconciliation

**Author's Note:**

Hey, guys! DoctorPortal here, and boy am I excited for this one! Though the heading may say Chapter 39, this is actually the 40th chapter of _Stormbreaker_ that I've published! (The prologue was_ technically _chapter 1, even though I don't call it that...) Plus, this one's _SUPER_ long, and packed full of a whole bunch of crap! So, as always, thanks for all the support, and I hope you enjoy Chapter 39!

* * *

**Chapter 39: Reconciliation**

It was only after several moments of hug-exchanging amongst the crew that Nara remembered her family, still bound and gagged against the wall. She jogged over to them, kneeling down in front of Sala. Even with her mouth tied up, Nara could see that Sala was beaming. There was a gleam in her eyes, and she was clearly holding back tears of joy and pride for her sister. Nara smiled back, then reached for her lightsaber.

"Hold still, okay?" Nara said. Sala nodded, and Nara drew her blade. She held it close to the bonds, which melted from the heat. Sala reached up and pulled the gag off, then immediately pulled Nara into a firm hug.

"I knew you wouldn't abandon us," Sala said, softly.

Then Auburn stumbled to her feet, and made her way over to Nara.

"Nara, is… Is this what you've been doing this whole time? Training to become a Jedi?"

Nara nodded silently.

Auburn brought her fists up to her chest and rested her chin against them, clearly in deep thought. She turned to Maylissa and Argos.

"Mom, Dad… why didn't you tell me?"Auburn said. "Why did you keep Sala an I in the dark about this?"

"Um, actually," Sala interjected, raising a finger delicately, "I already knew..."

Auburn's face took on a much more frustrated look.

"Okay, so I'm the _only_ one who didn't know about the fact that my youngest sister is extremely force-sensitive?" Auburn asked.

No one said anything.

Rei walked up and placed a hand on Nara's shoulder. Nara placed her hand atop Rei's, and said nothing.

After several moments of extremely awkward silence, Sala spoke up.

"So, uhh…," she began. "You guys kinda need your ship repaired, right?"

Nova looked over at her.

"Oh, uh, yeah, but … Who are we gonna get to help fix it?"

"I think I can help with that…" Sala replied.

"Sala, would you wait for a minute?!" Auburn said, clearly flustered with everything. She took a deep breath.

"Okay, look," she began, "Nara, how long have you been force-sensitive?"

Nara took on an almost-offended look.

"How _long?_ Auburn, it's not like a person can just suddenly _become_ force-sensitive. I was born with it! Mom and Dad have hidden it for years! That's why I was locked up for so much of my life! Because Mom and Dad wanted me to be some perfect little girl who never realized her powers!"

"_Enough!" _Argos cried.

"_NO!" _Nara screamed back. "You shut your _goddamn_ mouth, Argos!"

Auburn and the others reeled back at Nara's harshness. Nara's voice became deathly cold, and she enunciated each word carefully.

"_I_ am talking to my sister, _Argos_. If you want in, you can wait your _fucking_ turn. I'm never taking orders from you again so long as I live, do I make myself clear?"

Argos just stared at her, bewilderment written all over his face.

"Nara…," Maylissa said. Nova and the crew looked a=over at her, surprised. It was the first they'd ever heard her speak. At the sound of her voice, Nara snapped out of her anger and looked over.

"Nara, please, come here..." Maylissa gestured, and Nara begrudgingly walked over. But as she reached her mother, Nara's resolve collapsed and she fell against her and sobbed. Maylissa held her youngest daughter in a warm embrace.

"We have wronged you, I know," Maylissa said, her voice as soothing as warm milk. "But you must not let your anger control you. Rather, see that it is there, acknowledge it, then let go of it. Let it flow out of your system."

Something in her words had a strange tranquilizing effect on all of them, Nara especially. Maylissa lowed herself and Nara to the floor, where she held Nara as she struggled to regain her composure.

"I'm sorry," Nara said, softly. "In sorry for the trouble I've caused. But surely you understand why I did what I did..."

"Of course I do," Maylissa said. "And you know, you're not the only one in the family who has a hint of force powers..."

Nara looked up at her rapidly, and made eye contact. As she stared into her mother's eyes, Nara felt the same tranquilizing effect she'd known all her life ...

From the way Winson had always done.

Nara's eyes widened, and she wiped the remaining tears from her face.

"Mom...? You... You mean-"

"I don't have much," Maylissa said, "but I have just enough to make raising three hyperactive children manageable." She smiled warmly.

Nara returned it with a grin of her own. Nara sighed and rested her head against her mother's chest, and they sat that way for several minutes.

After the moment has passed, Maylissa looked up at Nova and the rest of the crew.

"So, who exactly are all of you?" she inquired.

Nara looked up at her and blinked.

"Oh, right," she said. "Guys?"

Rei stepped forward first.

"I'm Rei T'vren. Pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

"A pleasure it is, Miss T'vren," Maylissa replied. She looked at D'razz.

"Oh, uh..," D'razz began, "I'm D'razz Stegma. And, uh.. Sorry about the scary-looking mask. It's, uhh... Umm..." He cut himself short.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mister Stegma," Maylissa said. D'razz's mask accents turned bright pink.

Kaz stepped forward next.

"My name is Kasutoraidesema, I am 400,000 years old, and I am the last of my kind," he said, without skipping a beat.

Maylissa looked slightly taken aback at Kaz, but blinked it aside. Nova stepped up last.

"I am Nova Xaris, Jedi Master and captain of the starship _Stormbreaker._ And these are my crew. "

"Well, Master Xaris," Maylissa said, "can I assume you're the one who's been training my daughter?"

Nova scoffed, a wide smile creeping across his face.

"I've done what I can," he said, "but she's learning so fast I can hardly keep up. She's teaching herself more than I could, at this point."

Maylissa chuckled softly.

"That's my girl," she said, and ran her hand brought Nara's hair.

"So, hey, uhh..," Sala piped up, "about your ship..."

* * *

The group gathered at the base of the _Stormbreaker_, which still sat leaning against one side from the collapsed landing strut.

Sala was inspection it thoroughly, switching from placing one hand to her chin, to looking at the ship through a rectangular frame made from her thumb and index fingers. After several moments, she stepped back, hands on hips, and nodded.

"Yeah. No, I know exactly what to do here," she said, and pulled out a small, circular holoterminal out of her pocket. She dialed a specific number, then waited, as three dots traced across the screen, as if loading. Then the head and upper torso of a friendly-looking man appeared on the other end.

"Miss Mukure," the man said, "what a pleasure it is to hear from you. How may we be of assistance?"

"Hey, Kanson, it's good to see you too! I'm gonna need a team. Your best guys, and a number of 'em too. How many guys you think you can spare?"

Kanson's eyes lit up, and he smiled.

"Well," he said, "it depends. What's the job?"

"Repair and refit. And boy, is it a whopper. Ship took some serious damage during a bombing run. And she's a big one, too, custom-built."

"How big are we talking, here?" Kanson asked.

"Size Class 6A for sure, maybe 6B. And she's beautiful, too."

"Got a visual for me?" Kanson inquired.

Sala spun the holoterminal around, and Kanson gasped softly.

"Oh, my...," Kanson's smile returned, bigger than ever. "Sala, you've got yourself a deal. You can expect some of our best by tomorrow morning."

"You're the man, Kanson. Thanks!" Sala said, and dropped the connection.

* * *

"So..," Nova said, "where are they?"

He, the crew, and the royal family all sat around at the base of the _Stormbreaker_, waiting for the still unknown team Sala had contracted. They were due to arrive any moment.

"There!" Sala said, and stood up. She pointed to a convoy of ships, one large, shiny silver ship, surrounded by a group of smaller, bright yellow ships. As they approached, the group could see that all the ships were Nubian vessels, and each bore the insignia of perhaps the greatest starship manufacturer in the galaxy:

Nubia Star Drives.

"You hired a Nubian Team?!" Nova asked, child-like bewilderment and excitement written across his face.

"I figured a ship like this needed a... special touch," Sala said, smiling. She had her arms crossed, admiring her fingernails, attempting to look nonchalant. She was failing miserably.

The large ship in the center of the convoy landed before them, and a boarding ramp lowered gently to the ground. The man who had introduced himself as Kanson earlier stepped off and approached them. He was a wide-bellied man of moderate height, with receding silver hair and a short-trimmed silver beard. He had a huge smile across his face, and when he spoke, his voice was low with a thick drawl.

"Well, now," he said, "which one of you would happen to be the captain of this beautiful craft?"

Nova delicately raised his hand.

"Uh, I-I am...," he said. He appeared almost starstruck.

"And you are?" Kanson asked.

Nova swallowed hard.

"I-I'm Nova Xaris, Captain of the _Stormbreaker._"

"Well, Captain Xaris, I must say, you've got yourself one hell of a ship," Kanson said.

Nova blushed, and reached up and scratched the back of his neck.

"That, uhh... that means a whole lot coming from the head designer of Nubia," he said.

Kanson laughed heartily.

"You've heard of me, then? Wonderful. Now, come," he said, placing a hand on Nova's shoulder, leading him towards the _Stormbreaker._ "Walk me through the statistics of this here vessel of yours..."


	41. Chapter 40: Unexpected Reunion

**Author's Note:**

Hey, guys! DoctorPortal here again! So, I'm really sorry about the lack of chapters lately! I've been swamped with a whole bunch of stuff, marching band, a Halloween party, and so on, so I was completely unable to post a chapter on what was easily the biggest day of this story so far! Friday, October 30, 2015 was the 6-month anniversary of _Stormbreaker_! And I'm super frustrated that I didn't have a chapter for you all then, but hey, I've got one now, and this one's a _whopper!_

Again, I'm super sorry for the lack of uploads lately. There's been so much stuff going on, I can hardly keep up! But, this chapter's nearly _3,000_ words long, and that's without the author's note! So, I hope you enjoy, and I'll talk to you all soon!

* * *

**Chapter 40: Unexpected Reunion**

_22 A.B.Y, Nearly six months later…_

The crew stood in a large observation area of Nubia's orbital shipyard dock, which hung in orbit around Naboo's moon. They all were exchanging thank-yous and goodbyes. Finally, Kanson approached Nova, a huge smile across his face.

"Well, Captain Xaris," he said, handing Nova a small data pad. "Here's the list of everything that's changed. Any questions you may have regarding the tech we installed, how to operate it, and so on can be answered with this," he said. He outstretched his hand, and Nova shook it.

"Thank you, Kanson," Nova said, "it's been an honor."

"Pleasure's all mine," Kanson replied. "Now, take good care of that ship."

Nova gave him a two-fingered salute as he and the rest of the crew stepped onto the boarding ramp which connected the terminal to the ship. And as the crew got a little ways into the tunnel, Kanson pressed a button behind them, and suddenly the walls of the tunnel began retracting downward, revealing huge, glass tubes. And beyond them, the crew could finally see the fruit of all their efforts:

_The Stormbreaker Mark II._

The ship glimmered against the bright lights of the dock. Her hull had been infused with twice as much crystal as before, so it glimmered and sparkled, twinkling all the colors of the rainbow. The crew continued down the walk in silent awe. And at the end of it, the airlock door slid open, and they stepped aboard their fully-reconstructed ship.

"It's…. It's beautiful…," Rei said, softly.

They had entered in the Common Living Area. But things were different. Now, there were various paintings and pieces of artwork upon the walls, and there was a new lift door against the side wall, which would lead to all the new rooms.

But before she had a chance to marvel, Nara remembered something.

"Oh, my god!" she shouted. The rest of them whipped around to look at her.

"The bounty hunter guy! Has he been aboard the whole time?"

Nova's eyes went wide with horror, and together he and the crew rushed into the lift, which took them down to the brig area. And when they got to A'laan K'hol's cell, Nova keyed in the code and stepped inside.

And there, he found himself suddenly in, of all places, what appeared to be an alien strip club.

"What the fuck?!" Nova said. The others filed in behind him, and all appeared equally shocked. But then, a voice cried out from near the bar area.

"Ayyyy, look who it is! It's my captors!" It was A'laan, who had a huge alcoholic drink in front of him, and several empty mugs beside it.

Nova walked over to him, and the others followed.

"You know, man," A'laan began, then burped loudly. "You sure do know how to treat your prisoners. You used a goddamn holosuite as a prison cell?! That's serious awesome points, dude."

Nova stood in stunned silence for several moments.

"Umm, how long do you think you've been in here?" Nova asked carefully.

"Oh, I dunno," A'laan replied, "A few days maybe? It's fuzzy. Whatever's in these drinks is amazing, man.…" he hiccuped loudly.

"Umm…" Nova began, "It's been three months."

A'laan's jaw went slack. He looked stunned for a moment, then blinked, and the confusion was gone.

"That…," he began, "that's _great!_ Now everyone thinks I'm dead! Finally, I can stop with all those bullshit manhunts! Woohoo!" He took another huge swig of his drink, set down the mug, and wiped his chin with his sleeve.

Nova went silent again. Winson took over the talking.

"So," he said, "You're fine here, then, yes?"

"Man, I'm fine," A'laan said. "Just leave me here, if you want. I've got all the company I need..," he said, nodding over to the dancers on the stage.

"Very well," Winson said, and led the others out of the cell. Once they were outside, Nova addressed them again.

"So, I don't know about you all," he said, "but I'd appreciate it if we never, ever speak of what we just saw in there again."

"Agreed," Nara replied. And with that, they went back to the lift. Strangely, When they got back into it, it started moving down into the ship, rather than up, as if to the bridge.

"Wait," Nara piped up, "Where are we going?" Nova didn't look at her, but instead smiled faintly.

"Where else? To give the _Stormbreaker_ the wake-up call she's been waiting for for six months…."

* * *

The lift emptied them in the Nova Sphere Chamber. The room itself didn't appear very different, but the containment unit itself looked drastically changed.

For example, the tinted transparisteel walls were swung open, and a large platform had slid out. It was shaped like a large, inverted funnel, with a small indent at its tip, shaped to the exact size of the Nova Sphere. Nova approached it, then reached into his pocket.

When he removed his hand, he held in his grasp the small, lifeless Nova Sphere. the dark, stormy-gray mixture still swirled slowly. Nova walked over and placed the sphere on the pedestal. Upon sensing it, a series of motors whirred into life and retracted the funnel back into the containment unit. It then shifted upwards slightly, locking the darkened Nova Sphere into place against another funnel which opposed the first. With a hiss, the transparisteel doors swung closed, and the seam between them seemed to vanish. After a few moments of silence, Nara spoke up.

"So, Nova," she began, "how exactly do you intend to re-energize the Nova Sphere? I thought your life force was refused…"

"It was," Nova said, without looking at her. He stepped towards the containment unit, then looked over his shoulder.

"But watch this," he said.

He kneeled down to one knee and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his eyes glowed bright blue with a power as bright as a star. And moments later ….

His spirit rose up from his body.

The glowing blue apparition stood above him, phasing through his back. Then, with a shimmer, the apparition split, dividing into two distinct parts. The two halves looked at each other, then nodded. Then the half on the right began to glow more and more brightly, then suddenly rocketed towards the containment unit. As soon as it made contact with the sphere, the other half rushed into Nova's body.

Then the Nova Sphere reignited.

It started with a slow pulsating, which then built in speed, the energy inside the small crystal sphere swirling around with greater and greater ferocity. It began spewing energy, pulsating brighter and brighter, the energy within it churning and swirling around at a faster and faster rate. The sphere developed a steady glow, very faint at first. But then it grew, brighter and brighter, until the light emanating from the chamber was blinding. And just as the crew turned away, there was a massive flash, followed by a large shockwave. A bright blue ring of energy rocketed out from the containment unit, knocking everyone to the floor.

When the mayhem settled, and the crew finished helping each other to their feet, they saw Nova, still kneeling. But then his eyes flew open, and his irises were back to normal. He coughed and spluttered for a moment, then rose to his feet. The others rushed over to him. D'razz was the first to speak.

"Nova, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Nova said.

"How do you feel?" Winson asked.

Nova pondered for a moment, then smiled.

"Back to normal," he said. He walked over to the console adjacent to the containment unit, and keyed in his master code. The others surrounded him.

"Now," Nova said, "what do you say we get on the road?"

They all smiles and nodded, excitement written across all of their faces.

Nova keyed in a sequence, and behind them a series of large valves and vents opened with a series of loud hisses. And moments later, Nova Sphere Energy began flowing freely through the tubes emanating from the chamber, and spread to the edges of the room and beyond. Then, the sounds of life.

Machinery from all over the ship spooled up and whirred into life. The primary lighting systems activated across the ship, and the entire ship seemed to have a very faint blue glow.

They all looked around the room in awe, and Kaz suddenly turned to Nova.

"Hey, uhh, if any of you need me, I'll be on the bridge!" He said, then turned and ran for the lift.

"Not without us you're not!" Nova cried and ran after him. Rei, D'razz, Nara, and Winson followed closely, and moments later, they emerged into the bridge.

Nova immediately flew into the pilot's chair and strapped himself in. He began flipping various toggle switches and keying in codes. Out of the console in front of him, a series of holographic displays appeared, and so did similar displays at each of the others' stations.

"Holographic displays?" Rei asked. "I like it…"

They all strapped into their various chairs. Kaz's voice came over the intercom as soon as they did.

"Okay, friends," he said, "where we off to first?"

The others all turned to Nova, anticipating a response. Nova said nothing, but simply smiled, and took hold of the steering yoke. He picked up a small, fancy-looking headset off the console, and positioned the mic to his mouth.

"Control Tower, this is _Stormbreaker_, requesting permission to depart from stardock," Nova said. Over the line, Kanson's voice responded.

"_Stormbreaker_, you are cleared for departure. Godspeed, and may the Force be with you."

"You as well, Kanson," Nova replied, then keyed in a code sequence. With a series of clunks and whirring sounds, the large docking clamps began to retract. Nova carefully applied pressure to the large throttle lever to his left, and the _Stormbreaker_ moved forward, finally breaking the bonds of the shipyard. Nova applied more pressure to the throttle, and pulled gently back on the control yoke, and the ship flew higher and higher into the atmosphere, and moments later the ship broke out into space. Nova turned to look at his crew.

"You guys ready?" he asked. The others nodded.

"Here we go," Nova said, and pulled the throttle lever all the way back. The main engines slowed down, their pitch declining. But as he pulled the lever back further, the hyperdrive systems began to spool up. The whine of the engines became borderline deafening, and the stars streaked together into long, white bands as the _Stormbreaker_ finally broke the bonds of her planetary orbit, and leapt forth into the waiting arms of hyperspace.

* * *

"Hey, Nova?" Rei called out. Her terminal was indicating it had found something she couldn't decipher.

"Yeah?" Nova required, leaning his head towards her without looking away from the viewport.

"I'm picking up a signal," she said, "like, a distress signal."

"In hyperspace?" Nova asked, looking over to her. She nodded.

"Okay…," Nova said, then sat silently for a moment. His eyes were moving rapidly, as if he were in intense thought. Then he reached over to the throttle and disengaged the hyperdrive. The glimmering blue tunnel ahead of them reverted to the long white bands, then back to the starry blackness of normal space. Nova unstrapped his harness, stood up, and walked over to Rei, leaning over her console with one arm against the overhead computer banks.

"Whatcha got?" he asked. Rei reached over and pressed a button on her console to play the message.

When it played, it sounded like nothing more than a strange set of high-frequency notes, which fluctuated and warbled wildly. To the crew, it sounded like background noise.

But not to Nova.

As soon as the message played, a chill ran down his spine, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up. His eyes glazed over, and his jaw slackened. His mind was automatically deciphering the signal, like it was a code that had been programmed into his head …

By Project: Stormbreaker.

His mind ran wild, a million thoughts and questions running through his head. But the clearest thought was one which filled him with fear, a fear he had not felt in a long time.

_No one could know that signal…,_ he thought. _Except…._

His eyes went wide, and his face went deathly pale.

"Daniel…." he whispered.

"What?" Rei asked. "What about him?"

But Nova didn't hear her. He'd already strapped himself into the pilot's seat, and was rapidly programming coordinates into the navicomputer. And before any of the crew could react, he'd already activated the hyperdrive.

"Nova, where the hell are we going?!" Nara asked.

Nova said nothing for several moments.

"_Nova!_" Nara cried, and Nova jumped, seeming to snap out of his stupor.

"Oh, uh, what?" he asked.

"Where… are… we…. _going?!_" Nara repeated, clearly annoyed.

Nova looked down.

"To face my past," he said.

* * *

The planet in question was a jungle world, one Nova and the others had never seen before. And even stranger, the _Stormbreaker_'s computer had no records of it, either. But Nova swallowed his fear as he piloted the ship into the atmosphere. One of the many number of modifications made to the ship was an improved repulsorlift drive and a new and extensive atmospheric control systems, which consisted of hundreds of small, retractable thrusters all along the ship's hull, which would allow for smoother and more precise maneuvering, in both space and atmosphere. And as a result, the landing was remarkably easy and gentle.

Before the boarding ramp had even finished lowering, Nova had drawn his lightsaber. On instinct, Nara raised hers, and so did Winson. Rei drew her blasters, and D'razz pulled his crossbow over his back. Nova looked back at them, nodded, then stopped when he saw Kaz.

"Oh, uh, Kaz," he began, "you… might wanna sit this one out…."

"Are you kidding?" Kaz asked. "I got this, dude."

Then, he reached straight outwards with both arms, and his hands vanished inside what appeared to be a pair of dark portals. And when he pulled his hands back out, he held two incredible pieces of ancient weaponry.

In his right hand, he held a huge gleaming, black-bladed sword, which wasn't energy-enhanced in any way. Just a simple, clean slicing tool. And strapped to his left wrist was a small cylinder, around which a small chain was coiled. And at its tip, a small, arrowhead-like device.

A grapple cannon.

"Kaz, you know how to fight?" Rei asked, a look of wonder across her face.

"Yeah, I do," Kaz said, beaming. "I've been waiting to see what K'taaran weapons have on modern targets, and here's my chance!"

Nova had a thin, sly smile across his face. He nodded, and together the crew navigated carefully down the boarding ramp.

Nova nearly made it three steps off the ramp before he was sent flying nearly thirty feet to the side by an unseen blast. The crew watched as in less than a second, he was sent tumbling at high speed, before smacking painfully into a tree. Nara winced, and Kaz let out a low whistle. Nova was unconscious up against a tree to their left, and to their right ….

A young girl, who couldn't be older than 14, stood in a fighting stance, arms outstretched in a force-push position, eyes closed. When she stood up, she opened her eyes. When she did, the crew could see that her irises were the color of rose gold; a mixture of red, orange, magenta, and pink. And they radiated pure power.

But then a voice emanated from the trees behind her.

"Rose?" it called. It sounded like a woman, perhaps in her early 40s. Then the source of the voice appeared, walking out from behind the trees.

She was tall, skinny, and fierce-looking, with short, amber-red hair, which fell to her shoulders. Her skin was heavily tanned, and she had chestnut-brown eyes, which held a fiery tenacity and determination. She wore a dark-gray tank top, which was incredibly faded, and seemed to have the remnants of a strange insignia across the front. Around her waist was what appeared to be the tattered remains of a white lab coat, from which strips had been torn off in multiple places, some of which were wrapped around her arms like bandages. She was covered in dirt, scratches, and bruises, but she didn't seem fazed by any of them. As soon as she lay eyes on the crew, she stopped dead in her tracks, blinking for a moment. But then she looked over to where Nova had been thrown, and when she saw him, her eyes went wide. She rushed over to him at a speed which none of the crew could've seen coming. When she reached him, she kneeled down next to him and pressed a hand against his cheek, a very motherly gesture.

"Nova…," she whispered. "I'm here…."

"Whoa, whoa," Nara protested, approaching her. "Who the hell are you?" she asked, "and how do you know him? " she asked.

"Because," the woman said ...

"I'm the one who created him."


	42. Chapter 41: The Gamble

**Author's Note:**

Hey, guys! DoctorPortal here! So, I know it's been a while. Marching band's been winding down, but now a bunch of other stuff has come into play, and so once again, I haven't had time to write! But, I finally got managed to get out another chapter for you guys. Now, this chapter is closer to the old days (the earlier chapters), in that it's only about 1,300 words not including the Author's Note. And believe me, I realize that it may seem pretty insignificant compared to the 3,000-word behemoth that was the last chapter! But, I feel I left it at a good stopping point, So I think it'll be okay. So again, I hope you all enjoy, and thanks for all the support!

~DoctorPortal

* * *

**Chapter 41: The Gamble**

The mysterious woman kneeled next to Nova, dabbing his forehead with a damp cloth. She sat that way for several moments, until at last Nova opened his eyes.

When he first opened his eyes, his vision was blurry and distorted. But as it shifted into focus, he was able to make out a figure kneeling above him, who had short, amber-red hair, caramel-orange eyes, and freckles all across her face. There was only one person it could be.

"L..Lin?" he asked, groggily.

"Hello, Nova," she said. Nova's vision finally cleared, and there was no question.

It was none other than Dr. Lin Aiyo, the former-lead scientist of Project Stormbreaker, and the very woman who had created him.

"Lin…" Nova breathed, and she pulled him into a firm hug. He returned it, and immediately felt the sensation of more than thirty years of guilt falling off his shoulders. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes, and when he spoke, his voice was breaking.

"H...how are you alive..?" he asked, doing all he could to keep his composure.

"It's a long story," Lin replied, "But it's one I think you've been waiting to hear, whether you realized it or not."

She held Nova in her arms for several moments. Nova was crying softly, a sight which none of the others had ever seen before. In fact, the crew could see that Nova suddenly seemed younger. Years younger, as if decades of guilt and turmoil melting right off of him. The change was almost physical, as signs of stress and strain across his whole body which the crew had never noticed before all seemed to relax and breathe a sigh of relief.

"It's all right, young one," Lin breathed. "I'm here. I'm here…"

It was several moments before Nova finally managed to regain his composure. When he did, Lin gestured for the girl, Rose.

"Rose, come here," she said. Rose walked over to her and looked at Nova. Nova took one look at her, then his eyes widened. His jaw went slack, and he was speechless. Lin saw the look on his face, and smiled.

"You know what she is, don't you?" she asked him.

"She...she's…" Nova stammered. "Sh-she's a… another… another…. creation… of the project..."

"That's right," Lin said, then gestured to the girl.

Various gasps were heard amongst the crew. Nova's face took on an even more stunned expression, and his eyes went blank.

Lin sighed heavily. She looked up, and stared for a moment at the setting star off on the horizon.

"Come," she said, "It's getting late. Let's head to my campsite. I'll explain everything there."

* * *

Lin, Rose, and the rest of the crew gathered around a small fire Lin had lit, in the center of a small campsite, which consisted of a few horribly-tattered tents and sleeping bags, and a small number of tree stumps used for seating around the fire pit in the center.

The crew waited anxiously for Lin to tell her story, and at last, she began to speak up.

"So, Nova," she began, "what all do you know about the workings of the project the way it was intended to be done?"

"Well," Nova replied, "I know that the specimens were made in pairs. And after the first pair was introduced, they would be raised together, and then the next pair would be introduced after the previous group reached the age of 12. And Daniel and I were the first, and the last. Or so I thought," he said, looking over at Rose. Lin dismissed the comment and continued.

"That's all true," she said, "but there's more to it than that."

Nova leaned in, urging her to continue.

"One of the key things you missed there," Lin resumed, "was the fact that each pair was specifically designed to work in perfect harmony with each other. That way, the teachings of teamwork and friendship would be made easier. But just before we introduced the first pair, however, I took a gamble." She paused for a moment before going on.

"It was a stupid decision, and it's the reason why everything failed. It's the reason why all the other scientists are dead, and the facility is at the bottom of the ocean. It's the source of all the suffering you've endured, Nova…"

Nova's face took on a look of concern, mixed with confusion and intrigue. Lin resumed.

"I swapped two of the embryos. I took one of the embryos intended for Generation One, and swapped it for one of the embryos from Generation Five. Which means, Nova…," she stopped, and looked at the Jedi. His face was a mask of shock, as if he had made a life-shattering revelation.

"Daniel….," Nova breathed, "wasn't… wasn't actually my brother…."

"No," Lin said, "he wasn't."

Then, out of nowhere, D'razz popped up.

"But, wait, if Daniel wasn't supposed to be Nova's partner, then who was?"

Lin looked over at Rose, who met her gaze, then looked over at Nova, then back to Rose.

"Nova," she began,

"I want you to meet your sister, Rose."

* * *

"My… my what-now..?" Nova managed. "My… sister? But… but how is that possible?"

"When Daniel went rogue," Lin said, "I knew you had already escaped. And I knew that somehow, I needed to at least bring some right from what I'd done. So, I saved Rose's embryo, and managed to escape the facility as it crumbled all around me. I came across a space station, and in its medical center, I tried to find a way to begin the growth sequence, but with no success. Finally, I actually went and…." she stopped.

"You what?" Nova inquired.

"I… I impregnated myself," Lin said.

"Wait, you _what?!_" Nova asked, his face a mask of horror and concern. "That should have killed you!"

"Believe me," Lin added, "it damn near did. My body kept trying to reject it, terminate her, and the battle that ensued as a result between my immune system and Rose's put me into a hospital, and kept me there for the next four-and-a-half months, during all of which I was in a coma. I was unconscious when she was born."

Rei let out a soft, low whistle. A moment of silence followed, which was broken several moments later by Nova.

"So, how… how are you still alive?" he asked.

"Well, a couple reasons, actually," Lin replied, "one, I knew that if I died, she would too. And two, Rose wasn't the only one who had a genetically-enhanced body."

Nova looked extremely taken-aback. He raised an eyebrow.

"Nova," Lin said, softly, "there's one last piece to this story that you never knew. In fact, this is something that _no one_ knew, apart from myself."

Nova leaned forward again, urging her on.

"Nova, you and Daniel weren't the Alpha," she said, "you weren't the first people the project created."

"Wh…what..?" Nova breathed. "But… we were SB001 and SB002. What do you mean we weren't the first?"

"There was another, one which nobody else knew about," Lin said, "Serial code SB000."

Nova's jaw went slack.

"wh..who…." he asked, "Who was SB000?" he inquired.

"Me," Lin said. "I was."

"I was the first being the project created. I am SB000. I am the Alpha."


	43. Chapter 42: Gear Up

**Author's Note:**

Hey, guys! It's DoctorPortal again! How's it going?! It's been a _loooong_ time, I know! But at long last, I managed to break through my writers block and finally have another chapter for you guys! Again, super sorry for the wait! I have no excuse this time, other than godforsaken writers block (Grrrr). But yeah! Another 2,000-ish word chapter, fresh off the laptop! But anyway, I do hope you all enjoy this next chapter, and thanks again for all the amazing support! See you all later!

~DoctorPortal

* * *

**Chapter 42: Gear Up**

The crew had sat at Lin's campsite for hours, and night was falling when she addressed the crew.

"Come, we must take shelter," Lin told the others. "It gets very dangerous here at night."

"Well, we _do_ have a ship…," Nara said.

Nova's face lit up, as if it'd never occurred to him.

"Oh, that's right!" Nova said, excitedly. "Lin, you've got to see my ship."

Lin smiled. "It'd be a pleasure," she said.

The group ventured away from the campsite, taking a few moments to gather what little precious items remained. Then, after a short walk, they arrived at the ship. Lin stared up at it in awe.

"What's it's registration?" she asked. Nova smiled, then replied.

"_Her name_," Nova corrected her, "is the _Stormbreaker._"

Lin looked over at him, one hand held loosely in front of her mouth. Then she looked towards the ship's nose, and saw the name carved deeply into the crystal-infused hull. A few moments passed in silence, then they made their way to the boarding ramp, which Nova lowered with the small, oval-shaped remote he had in his pocket.

As soon as Lin and Rose stepped aboard, Rose immediately broke into a run, presumably to explore the ship. She disappeared into a lift and was gone.

As the others filed in behind them, something on D'razz's mask caught his eye.

"Hey, D'razz, come here a sec," he said. D'razz obeyed.

"Hey, how long has that green indicator been blinking?" Nova asked.

"Which one?" D'razz inquired.

"The one on the mask, on the top," Nova said.

"Oh, uh, I dunno, a few weeks?" D'razz speculated.

"Right…, hey, uh Lin?" Nova said, and walked over to the doctor. He whispered something into her ear, and she looked back at D'razz, then back to Nova. She nodded silently.

"What?" D'razz asked, approaching them. "What is it?"

"Well," Nova said, smiling, "remember how I said before the refit began that you only had a few weeks or so to wear the mask?"

D'razz nodded, confused briefly. But then his eyes lit up, and the glow in his lenses shrunk to small blue dots in amazement.

"Wait," he began, softly, "So, you… you mean..?"

"Yup," Nova said, "It's time to get that thing off of you, D'razz."

* * *

The surgery lasted four hours. Lin Aiyo worked carefully and silently in the med lab, while the others watched in anticipation through the window. Eventually, Lin got tired of their staring and banished them outside, where they all say in various couches, bored out of their minds.

But finally, The door slid open, and Lin walked out, removing her gloves and mask. She wore a clean lab coat, as well as clean clothes, and otherwise looked totally sterile. She wiped her forehead with her sleeve, then spoke.

"Good grief, that was hard," she said. "Nova, you sure did engineer that thing to hold to him. It was a real bitch to pry off. But, I tell you what, whatever you put in that mask did its job. You all want to see him?"

They all excitedly stood up, and followed Lin into the room. In a bunk against the far wall, D'razz lay asleep, various monitors hooked up to him. His back was facing them.

"Here, I'll wake him up," Lin said, then pressed a button on the console next to his bed. He stirred, then rolled into his back. The others gathered around him.

"It worked," Nova breathed, "his face is fully regenerated."

His skin was a pale yellow, with a few small, black tattoos, which mirrored the accents that had donned the mask. Then, when he opened his eyes, they were a vibrant bright turquoise, similar in color to the lenses on the mask. His eyes even gave off a very faint glow. He looked up at them, his eyes filled with a curiosity none of them had ever seen before.

"Ugh," D'razz groaned, "is... is it off?" he asked.

"See for yourself," Lin said, and handed him a mirror.

D'razz stared at his reflection in silent awe for several moments, then gently closed his eyes. A single tear formed in his left eye and ran down his cheek. When he opened his eyes again, they were filled with emotion. Emotion far beyond what the mask had ever done. His eyes reflected happiness, relief, and gratitude. He looked up at Nova.

"Thank you," he said, softly.

"You're welcome, D'razz," Nova replied, a huge smile on his face. "Now, there's another matter I've been meaning to attend to…"

* * *

"What is all this, Nova?" Rei asked. She and the rest stood in what seemed to be an engineering lab, filled with all sorts of strange, experimental technology.

"It's an engineering lab...!" D'razz breathed.

"Exactly!" Nova said. "This is where I've been building a bunch of tech, for each of you."

"Us?" Rei asked. "What have you been building?"

"Well, the doc and I..." He looked over at Lin, then resumed. "We've been making specialized bits of gear for each of you."

"Like what?" Nara asked.

Nova smiled smugly.

"Oh, boy," Nara said.

"Rei, this one's yours," Nova said, gesturing to a strange-looking suit hanging against a wall.

"What… what is it?" Rei asked.

"It's called the _Exodus 37,_" Lin said, "and it's the next generation in deployable power armor."

Rei stared up at it in silence for several moments, after which Lin proceeded to help her strap into it, and began instructing her on how to use it.

Meanwhile, Nova walked Nara over to another rack, where a strange, backpack-like device was mounted.

"What's this?" Nara asked.

"Well, strap it on and I'll show you," Nova said with a sly grin.

Nara did as instructed. The device was painted matte gray, with thin, darkened accents which Nara assumed would glow when the device was active.

"Okay, I'll ask again," Nara said, "What is this?" Nova was fiddling around on the backside of the device.

"One sec…," he said, continuing to fiddle. "There!"

A series of clicks was heard emanating from the device, followed by a chorus of differently-pitched whining noises, ranging from low to high. Nara jumped as she felt a shock hit the base of her spine, which vanished as quickly as it appeared. Then, a series of straps unfurled from the device and clamped themselves to her wrists. The accents in the device's body now glowed a bright purple.

"What the hell did it just do?" Nara inquired.

"It just keyed in to your force signature," Nova said. "Now it can only be used by you."

"Great," Nara said, sarcastically. "And what is it?!" she asked again.

"Here, go like this," Nova said, indicating her to bring her arms up and cross them, then fling both arms towards the ground. Nara rolled her eyes, and followed.

As soon as she performed the motion, large, razor-thin plates of metal unfurled from either side of the device, and folded out several more times, to where in seconds, Nara had acquired a pair of large, matte-black wings, spanning nearly three meters across.

Nara turned and stared at them for a moment, before giving Nova a withering look.

"It's a jetpack," she said, brows furrowed. "You couldn't have just told me it was a jetpack?"

Nova chuckled.

"Wingpack," he corrected her, "and you just had to ruin the fun, didn't you?" he said. Nara scoffed, a thin smile developing on her face. She turned and admired the wings for several moments.

"Well, I'm not gonna lie," Nara said, "it is pretty impressive. But how do I control it?" she asked. "It doesn't have any controls."

"Doesn't need any," Nova said, and pointed to his head. "It's telepathically controlled."

Nara raised an eyebrow.

"And how exactly does _that_ work?" she asked.

"As I mentioned earlier, it keyed into your force signature," Nova said. "Once it's done that, it's not hard."

Nara smirked and rolled her eyes.

"And how do I retract the wings?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, like this," Nova said, and gestured by folding his arms partway. Nara did the same, and in seconds the wings had retracted into the pack.

Nova moved on to D'razz, who had been wandering through the lab, inspecting various items, and courteously refraining from touching any of it.

"Ah, D'razz," Nova said, and and D'razz looked up. The presence of his eyes caught Nova off guard momentarily. D'razz saw his hesitation, and smiled.

"Not used to me without the mask?" he asked. Nova nodded.

"Yeah, actually, I kinda am," he replied, sheepishly.

"It's okay," D'razz said, "I'm honestly not quite used to it either. But you were saying?"

"Oh, right," Nova said. "I've got something for you as well…." he led D'razz over to a table against the far wall of the lab. On it sat a small pedestal, which held a small, strange-looking device, which looked like a large stack of plates attached to a few arm straps. D'razz picked it up.

"Here," Nova said, and helped him strap it to his left forearm. As soon as the straps were secured, the device sent out a soft, audible ping, which sent the magnetic detonator on D'razz's hip flying over, causing it to land against his left hand, and attached itself to the device. Suddenly, a series of new triggers appeared on the grip.

"What the…?" D'razz breathed. Then, out of nowhere, Kaz suddenly appeared behind him. He and Nova exchanged a glance, and Nova moved onto another table. Kaz looked at the device D'razz had strapped to his arm.

"So, D'razz," Kaz said, "would you like to know what this is?"

"Absolutely," D'razz replied, slightly confused.

"Well, then sling your arm down and press that green button to find out," Kaz said with a grin.

D'razz did as instructed, and suddenly the stacked plates on his arm slung round in a circle, and then each plate clicked into place alongside each other. In seconds, D'razz held a large, round shield in his hand. It gleamed under the light of the room.

"A.. A shield?" D'razz asked, staring in awe at the device.

"Not just any shield," Kaz said, "A K'taaran Battle Shield. Virtually indestructible, it can withstand any impact it takes. And it's enhanced, too, which means it's got special technology which helps it adapt to your fighting style over time. And I think you're the perfect person to wield it."

D'razz looked up at him.

"Y..you do?" D'razz asked.

"Yup," Kaz said. "That little thing used to be mine, but since I never used it, it had sat in my trans-dimensional locker for centuries."

"Your what?" D'razz asked.

"Trans-dimensional locker," Kaz restated. "It's a storage space for me to keep things I'm not actively using. Like this," he said, and extended his left arm outward, and a small, black portal opened up halfway along his arm, which his arm disappeared into. When he pulled his arm back out, he held the same, elegant black broadsword he'd had earlier.

"See?" Kaz said, and put back the sword.

"Uh… yeah," D'razz said. "Th.. Thank you, Kaz..." D'razz said.

Kaz smiled. "No problem, bro."


	44. Chapter 43: The Seventh Sanctum

**Chapter 43: The Seventh Sanctum**

The crew were gathered in the training arena, each working through how to use each of their respective devices. Rei and Lin were practicing with advanced maneuvering with the Exodus suit, D'razz and Kaz were working on D'razz's reflexes in deploying the shield, and Nova was instructing Nara on how to use the XR-5 Delta Wingpack, as she flew around the large chamber at high speed.

The training lasted for several hours, but at the end of it, they were each as well-trained as they could get at the new tech. As the crew began to file out of the arena for the night, Nova stopped Nara.

'Hey, Nara?" he said.

"Yeah, Nova?" she asked.

"I.. I want you to take this," he said, and outstretched his hand.

In it sat a small necklace, with a gold and silver chain. At its base, there was a large pendant, which was shaped like a small, minimalistic circle, with a lightning bolt-like shape connecting two half-circles. It glowed brightly blue, such that it was clearly filled with Nova Sphere energy.

"Nova, what is this?" Nara breathed.

"It's… something I want you to have," he said, "something to remember me by,"

Nara looked up at him, eyes full of concern.

"Nova, what's this about? What's going on?"

Nova sighed heavily, his eyes full of sorrow.

"Well," he began, "It's not good…"

Nara's face became more deeply concerned.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I…. I've been having visions…" Nova said. "Dark stuff. Battles, things of epic proportions. And not all the endings have been good. And, I just wanted you to have this."

Nara's look of concern remained as she slipped the chain around her neck and clasped it together.

"Nova…," she asked, her voice almost a whisper. "What's going to happen?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the _Stormbreaker_'s proximity alarm went off. Wall panels everywhere began pulsing slowly red, indicating a high-level threat.

"I'll explain later," Nova replied.

* * *

As soon as they got to the bridge, Kaz's voice came out of the speakers, telling them to strap in. He was trying to find what it was that the alarm had picked up.

"What is it, Kaz?" Nara asked over the blaring alarms.

"Imperials!" Kaz replied, his voice echoing throughout the ship. "Two Star Destroyers, coming out of hyperspace, dead ahead!"

He was right. Moments later, two enormous ships came out of hyperspace. Star Destroyers, unquestionably, but they appeared different. They looked newer, and far more advanced.

Nova ran over to the viewport, and stared out at the ships that faced them.

"We can take them," D'razz said.

"Yeah, we can!" Rei said. "Should we get into some ships?"

Nova looked at her and smiled.

"You guys go. Take the _Epsilon._"

"The _Epsilon_?" Nara asked. "But it doesn't have any weapons."

Nova's smile became smug in nature.

"You… you weaponized it, didn't you?" Nara asked.

Nova simply smiled.

"Alright, come on, guys!" Rei said, and beckoned for the others to follow. D'razz, Winson, Nara, Rose, and Lin did, and soon they were in the lift, making their way down to the hangar.

Moments later, A series of clunks and whirrs were heard in the ship's underbelly, and soon Nova could see the _Epsilon _flying past the forward viewport. Nova smiled to himself.

"Hey, uhh, Nova?" Kaz said.

"Yeah, Kaz?" Nova said, without looking up.

"Yeah, uhh, they might be able to handle those two," he said, "But I don't think they can take him..."

"Wait, what?" Nova asked. "Who?

"That…." Kaz said, and a readout appeared on Nova's display.

His screen showed a signal unlike anything he had ever seen before. It was the beacon of a third incoming ship, and it was huge. Gigantic. From what Nova could see, it appeared larger than a moon.

And that's when it came out of hyperspace.

It was the biggest thing any of them had ever seen. It was Star Destroyer, nearly 25 kilometers in length. It was jet black, and seemed to radiate a pure, dark energy. As it appeared, the crew could see that at its nose was the biggest gun barrel they'd ever seen, clearly hiding a weapon of unstoppable destruction.

And with that, Vice Admiral Jonathan Van Haveren's figure appeared Nova's display.

"Hello again, _Stormbreaker_ crew," he said, his voice ice cold. "It is my personal pleasure to introduce you to your destruction. I bring you … The _Seventh Sanctum._"

* * *

"As you can see," Haveren said, "You are more than outmatched. You are incredibly outgunned, and exponentially outmatched. So, Master Xaris," his hologram turned to look straight at Nova.

"Say goodbye to your precious crew."

Suddenly, Rei's voice came in over the speakers.

"Don't worry, Nova!" she said. "We can take him!"

Nova didn't respond. He was too busy frantically typing into his console, rapidly entering a series of codes to be transmitted. Finally, he replied to Rei.

"No, Rei…," he said, "you can't."

"Wait, Nova," Rei protested, "what are you-"

But she was cut off when Nova pressed the large green button on his display. Out the forward viewport, Nova watched as the _Epsilon_, with his whole crew aboard, jumped into hyperspace. Away from him, away from Haveren. To safety.

"There," Nova said, looking directly at Haveren. "Now this is between you and me, Haveren!" he said.

Haveren smiled coldly.

"So be it, Jedi…" he said.


	45. Chapter 44: Final Stand Mode

**Chapter 44: Final Stand Mode**

Nova stood alone on the bridge. Kaz was still plugged into the main computer, but it didn't help him much. Finally, he spoke up, directly to the hologram of Van Haveren.

"Okay, Haveren, you know what?" Nova said.

Haveren raised an eyebrow slightly.

"If you want me so bad, you're gonna have to come _get me!_"

Nova slammed a button on his console, and the _Stormbreaker_'s hyperdrive engines spooled up in an instant. Before Haveren had time to react, Nova's ship was in hyperspace, flying far away from his.

* * *

The _Stormbreaker_ had emerged in a nebula. A vast, supermassive nebula, which Nova had found in uncharted space. And now, he waited, for the inevitable moment when Van Haveren would appear behind him. He spun the ship about 180 degrees, and cut the engines.

Nova paced along the bridge, alone, for the first time in years.

"Nova…," Kaz said, his voice reverberating through the speakers. "Do you have a plan?"

Nova sighed heavily.

"No, Kaz, I don't," he said. "Saving the others was all I had. And now, for the first time in my life, I have no ideas. I'm all dried up."

Nova stared out of the viewport, staring thoughtfully at the Nebula that surrounded them.

"Well," Kaz said, "that's good."

Nova whipped his head to look at the camera in the corner of the room.

"What?" Nova said, confused. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?

"It's a good thing," Kaz said, "Because I _do_ have a plan…."

* * *

It was risky, and chances were they would never survive, but Kaz's plan had been enough to instill Nova with the one thing he truly needed:

Hope.

"Okay, Kaz," Nova said, his hands flying across displays all along the bridge. He was keying in codes, flipping switches, pulling levers, and manning every station at once. "How long to intercept?"

"Two minutes," Kaz said. "Just enough time to prepare everything."

"Good," Nova said. "Long-range escape pod?"

"Check," Kaz said.

"Weapons systems?"

"Check."

"Shielding?"

"Maximum capacity. Holocron?" Kaz asked Nova.

"Got it," Nova said, placing a hand on the small cube in his pocket. "We're ready."

"That's good," Kaz said. "Here we go, ten seconds to intercept. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…."

It appeared right on time. The _Seventh Sanctum_.

It turned slowly, until her nose pointed straight at the _Stormbreaker_. By comparison, Nova's ship looked like a fly on the wall.

Van Haveren's figure appeared before Nova on the holotable. His face was alight with cold, calculated rage.

"Master Xaris," he said, "I do hope you realize that _this_," he gestured to his craft, "is the end of the line."

"Good luck with that, Haveren," Nova said. "I sincerely doubt I will survive this, but I know one thing for certain; _You_ will not leave this nebula alive."

Van Haveren laughed. His laughter echoed through the entire ship, and was ripe with insanity. The man had been driven mad by his desire for vengeance.

"Well," he said, "I have enjoyed this talk. Farewell, Master Xaris." He cut the transmission.

And just like that, the first shots were fired.

Huge turbolaser blasts bombarded the ship, rocking it from side to side. The time was now.

"Kaz, now!" Nova shouted, "Hit it now, Kaz!"

"On it!" Kaz replied, and suddenly every single screen in the whole ship changed to show the exact same message. Three words, displayed in large letters on every screen:

_FINAL STAND MODE ENGAGED_.

And with that, the ship went berzerk. The readouts on the bridge showed that the shield strength had increased by over 500%. Weapons systems had increased power by 300%, and were all online, firing wildly at the center of Haveren's ship, where the main reactor was located.

Seconds later, scanners picked up on a weakening of the _Sanctum_'s shields around that area.

"Kaz, it's working!" Nova cried. "Initiate the course change! NOW!"

Nova was thrown all over the bridge as now the shudders from impacts were accompanied by the igniting of the ship's sublight engines, at maximum power.

And headed straight for the _Sanctum_'s center, where sensors had placed its main reactor to be.

"Nova, course is locked in, but I don't know how much longer the auto-pilot is going to work!"

"It'll have to do!" Nova shouted. "Now let's get outta here!"

"Right!" Kaz said, and went quiet. Nova ripped the storage drive out of the terminal and pocketed it. He ran.

He ran, lower and lower into the ship. Support struts collapsed all around him, and sparks were flying everywhere. But finally, he made it to the escape pod hall.

He ran over to the one which Kaz has prepped, and was almost at the door when a support strut collapsed, and landed right on top of him. He collapsed, and landed on his stomach. WHen he tried to move, he realized the beam had pinned his legs to the floor. Nova's vision was quickly reduced to a shifting, swirly mess, and he could feel his consciousness slipping.

"No…" he moaned. "No, I… I was so… close….."

Nova reached his arm out towards the door, but to no avail. Blackness overtook him, and he collapsed against the floor.

* * *

Moments later, the nebula was hit by an explosion. An explosion so big and bright, it could have passed for a star. It started as a faint blue shimmer, then it grew. It grew and grew, engulfing everything in its path. It was brilliant, a blinding blue explosion, perfectly spherical in shape, which ripped everything to shreds.

Watching from a high-power scope, Nara, Rei, D'razz, Lin, and Rose all knew what had happened.

The _Stormbreaker_ had been destroyed, and it had taken their captain along with it.

* * *

**Epilogue**

_Six months later…._

Nara, Rei, Winson, D'razz, Lin, and Rose gathered in the middle of a large field. The sky above Tython stretched above them, a blazing orange in the evening starlight.

They all remained silent as Nara stepped forth, and removed a small crystal pendant from around her neck. It was filled with a dark, stormy-gray mixture, which had once glowed with a bright blue power. It had been the last thing Nova had given her; a reminder to her of him. Eyes closed, she kneeled down and pressed the crystal against the large stone marker they had erected. Its inscription was simple:

In Honor of

Nova Xaris

19 B.B.Y. - 22 A.B.Y.

Captain, Hero, and Friend

For Giving the Ultimate Sacrifice, and Saving the Lives of His Friends

As Nara stepped back from it, a single tear ran down her cheek. She stepped back, and Winson held her delicately. The others turned and walked away, eventually leaving her the last one.

Finally, her resolve failed. She collapsed to her knees, and put her head in her hands. She sobbed quietly.

"Why...," she cried, her voice in tatters, "Why did you have to go?! I kept telling you… i kept saying-"

She was caught short when a light caught the corner her eyes. When she looked up, Nara's eyes widened.

The crystal. It was glowing.

There was no doubt, the crystal had suddenly acquired a brilliant blue glow, as powerful as a star. The others quickly returned, seeing the glow for themselves.

They all knew what it meant; it could only mean one thing:

Nova Xaris was alive.

_End of Book I_

* * *

The Stormbreaker Crew Will Return…

in

_**The Stormbreaker Chronicles, Book II**_


End file.
